broncovet

Thanks, Scout..its quite a compliment to ME..that maybe something I said helped another Vet.

I do not think it is a computer "glitch" but rather a default value inserted into each Veterans medical record designed to make the Veteran look like a liar, and to easily deny his claim. I have seen statements on my medical records that go something like: "Veteran has been screened for PTSD, and the results are negative". This is a "default value" and similar statements are often inserted in each Veterans claim, by default..in other words, the Doc does not type it in, it goes in each time. Later, when the doc types in Veterans statements about stress events, PTSD symptoms, and evidence, it looks like the Veteran is full of it because he is making conflicting statements. This is just one more "gotcha" designed with the 3D's in mind: Delay, Deny, Discredit the Veteran.

Clown Man.. You really are funny..especially if you expect the VARO to respond. You said, "First I have to ask what was VA's response to your letters asking why the claim for hypertension was not acted upon?" It has been my experience that VA NEVER responds to my letters! You might get an Iris email response which will say nothing like, "If you have questions on your claim, or wish to appeal, write to your VARO" In my case, I kept writing the VARO asking them why they did not respond to my 2004 NOD. They said NOTHING until I filed a "Writ of Mandamus" in 2008 demanding a response. Even after the CAVC judge ORDERED they respond, they lied and said my 2004 NOD was "interpreted as a claim for benefits". When I sent them a letter which demonstrated that no claims were ever denied or awarded as of the 2004 NOD date and their "interpretation" was simply not true, how did they respond? You guessed it. They NEVER RESPOND. More recently, I sent a "special claims handling" request to the VARO Cleveland, because evidence of mine was shredded by the Cleveland VARO. How did they respond to my letters? They NEVER RESPOND. However, how did VA management respond to Cleveland VARO shredding 58 documents, according to the VAOIG? This time they responded. They promoted the manager. Here it is: http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfdec08/nf120408-1.htm

Thanks for this "heads up". Frankly, I doubt that anyone knows anything about this new "program", especially VARO's. I am very skeptical that it will work and your claim will happen in 90 days. Reason: If they REALLY get claims done in 90 days, then they will be admitting that it is possible, and they know we would expect it all the time. WE Veterans have gotten so accustomed to the 3 D's (Deny, Delay, and discredit the Veteran), that we have lowered our standards..so low that mediocre is the new excellent. Veterans claims could/should be done in days or even hours instead of months. For example, when you file for unemployment you often can get a check in a couple weeks. There is really no reason why VA claims could not be done in a couple weeks, other than the fact we have been made accustomed to this 6 month to 6 year process. (My claim is not yet settled after more than 7 years.) There is also evidence that even the VARO's 6 month average wait time is false, because at least some of the VARO's have "faked" the dates to make their numbers look better. Here is one link where the New York VARO faked the dates, and destroyed evidence as well: http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfdec08/nf120508-1.htm Go ahead and "try" it, if you like, but they have been "trying" to reduce the claim time down for years, when it has actually gone up, and has gotten worse every year since 2003.

Tanker.. That jerk doc may just turn out to be your best friend. For me, it was the opposite. The c&P lady doc was real nice and complimentary..to my face! But in her report it sounded like she wanted to have me arrested for defrauding the VA cuz there wasnt nothing wrong with me worse than a hangnail or a hangover. My regular doc, however, is kinda rude and rough..on the surface..like your doc. He is 100% for the Veteran, tho, and wrote stuff in my comp and pension exam that got me awarded benefits! He said stuff like my conditions are most likely related to military service..inside that rude exterior was a ball of "honey". Your doc may be the same way. Go get a copy of his exam report, from your VA hospital, and you will be able to tell real quick whether he is for you or against you. Good luck..hang in there..even if he is against you, go get another doc who is for you.

...Welcome to hadit! It sounds like you got your stuff together. Make sure you file a Notice of Disagreement, within one year of the decision. Probably a good idea for you to get the help of a Veterans service officer. In your NOD make sure you have: 1) an expression of disagreement or dissatisfaction (I recommend you note the date of the decision you are disputing) and 2) A desire to contest the result, its a good idea to state either: I want a DRO review or, I am electing to forego DRO Review and go straight to BVA. Make a copy of your NOD and/or make sure your VSO has a copy, since the VARO tends to loose these. Do a good job with your NOD..have your decision in hand, and specifically state which parts of the decision you dispute.. and why..get help if you need it. Use supporting evidence.. such as, "Dr. Johnson stated on a medical exam 11-13-08 the Veterans was diagnosed with schizophrenia and said the most likely cause was military service..." Next, be prepared to wait 2 plus years for an appeal..get you a hobby or something else to keep from going nuts while you are waiting.

Carlie Thanks for the "heads up". Remember the "Red Green Show"..usually on about 10:30 or 11 pm? If you havent seen it, I recommend watching it..I think it is hilarious. Anyway, he says, "Im pulling for you..we are all in this together". So....Im pulling for you..we are all in this together.

Cowgirl (By the way, I grew up on a ranch in Colorado). Here is what I recommend: Go do "something else"...take up a hobby..even if it is playing chess or walking in the park..reading, etc..GET AWAY from your claim. Check your mail, but not at the second it comes. Relax. Remember, that regardless of this decisions outcome, it isnt the end. (If you "win" your claim you will have some money for a while, but you will likely spend it, and then be "hoping" for a big Cola in a couple years. On the other hand, if you loose, its not the end, you can always appeal. So, either way, "enjoy the journey"...hmmm..maybe even oh, I dont know..start going to church or shovel old people's snow, like I did, today. Your IRIS inquiry may or may not be accurate. I was promised an answer in "six to 8 weeks" by IRIS and it wound up being more than a year..for a denial. Of course, you could also be like some of the success stories and be awarded full benefits plus a free years supply of stickers for your envelopes by tommorrow. At any rate good luck.

If the game is on the line, then you need great "play calling", a "great game plan", and great execution. My recomendation is that you NOT burn down any bridges and go ahead and use your favorite VSO but remember..you are the owner and you can fire the VSO, hire another one, or be the coach yourself if your VSO cant even run the ball without fumbling. Your VSO CAN help you, but remember he has MUCH LESS financial interest in your claim than you do, so CYA. Keep an eagle eye on your VSO, and dont give him a "blank check". Go behind him and make sure he does what he says. In at least ONE way, he can be a good help. For example, if you submit your documents through your VSO, he will have a record that they have been submitted, so, WHEN your VARO says, "We dont have any record of your....document", then ask your VSO to send it to them AGAIN, and then file a request for special claims handling due to the "October incident" (The shredder incident). IN summary, go ahead and use a VSO, but WATCH HIM and take him out of the game if he fumbles the ball. A VSO will rarely hurt your case, but may not be that much help, so your dowside risk is low, but you do have some upside potential with him.

I agree that these regulations demonstrate that the Veteran would be eligible for an EED on his claim if he could show that the doc brought this condition (claim) up at a hospitilization/VA doc visit. To me, this is just another demonstration of how far the reality is that the VARO really has its own agenda of maintaining the employees jobs, and they only appear to be helping Veterans if they think someone important is watching. From a practical standpoint, not a legal one, the VA is only gonna process evidence on the claimed condition, they simply are not going to look for other benefits that the Veteran may be eligible for, even tho regulations require it, as shown below: "the VA must give a sympathetic reading to a veteran's filings by determining all potential claims raised by the evidence, applying all relevant laws and regulations." Moody v. Principi, 360 F.3d 1306, 1310 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Since Moody, VA's General Counsel has issued binding guidance": So, my advice is to apply for the claim, win it, then appeal for an earlier effective date, based on your hospital stay. It is very frustrating to do this the "long way", (instead of asking for an effective date of the hospitilazation from the get go). The VA interprets its own regulations anyway it wants. So, they have interpreted Moody to mean, "Ignore any claim except the one the Veteran asks for, then scream like mad if he wants to consider it an informal claim for an earlier date"...you know..the 3 D's.

Bern... Cleveland VARO is one of the 3 worst VARO's, (in number of documents shredded), according to the VAOIG report. When you go to Cleveland ask for a copy of your Cfile, and compare what THEY have to what you know you submitted. If there are missing documents, then submit a "Special Claims Handling" request per Dr. Peaks fast letter 08-41. OR, if you feel past decisions did NOT reflect all the evidence, ask for Special Claims handling, anyway. The Cleveland VARO is DOUBLE UNDER THE GUN. First, the Attorney General rates the Cleveland VARO in the "bottom five" in disability compensation. That is, Ohio Veterans get about $4000 per year per Vet LESS than a Veteran in Maine or New Mexico. And NOW, the Cleveland VARO is ALSO one of the three worst for shredded documents. (Gee..I doubt if that is a coincidence, either. Once, when I called VARO Cleveland, I complained to the person asking why VARO Cleveland was one of the lowest compensating VARO's in the nation. She responded that Cleveland was one of the most accurate, suggesting that other VARO's are wrongfully giving government money away. However, with the shredder incident, now we know why Cleveland is so "accurate"..they simply destroy any evidence inconsistent with their own agenda.) Now the "good" news. After the AG investigation for shredded documents, the Cleveland manager was "promoted", so you may get a fairer "shake" now. Altho now "the shredder master", (former Cleveland VARO manager) will be "deciding" claims from the Central Office, so now everybody's claim will be trying to weave its way past the shredder master. Here is a link: http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfdec08/nf120408-1.htm

Still Carlie was merely trying to help. I got in a beef in other forums, and have even been kicked out of one of em. Some of the posters are retired or current rating specialists and offer good advice, even tho some of em tell you what you definately dont want to hear. Even tho nobody wants to be told stuff they dont want to hear, I would definately rather hear negative stuff from one of these posters rather than on a denial decision! I MUCH prefer someone telling me that they hate me and mean it, rather than someone tell me they love me and its a lie. I got a chance of fixing what it is my enemy is mad about, but I probably will never be able to fully trust the "so called friend" who claimed to love me, when they they dont. Carlie is calling it like she sees it, and I respect her for that. That being said, I suggest to anyone they hang in there for any VA bennies they feel entitled to and NEVER give up. The VFW once sent me a letter and "dropped" representing me because they did not think my claim was valid. I am really glad I did not listen to them..I knew more about my situation than the VFW did, persisted, and at least won partial benefits. I was mad at VFW for a while, but now realize they had too many Vets making claims so to do justice to the others, they had to drop some Veterans as they were just too busy to take care of us all. I think they may have dropped every fourth claim or something like that. Keep on keeping on..persistance often wins over skill, talent, and luck.

I do recall hearing some very negative things about Ft. Dix in the early 70's. A female in the Navy that I had a crush on said something about her boyfriend was stationed in Ft. Dix, that he was "really messed up" for something there, but she didnt elaborate. Sorry I know it aint much.

I agree with Clown man and Berta. However, in response to Clown mans suggestion that, in order to prove "continuity", ongoing medical treatment is required. Altho there is no doubt in my mind that the VA would use this excuse to deny claims, I find that evidence not compelling in these examples: 1. Veteran seeks mental health treatment, however, that treatment is not effective, so Veteran seeks other treatment or discontinues it altogether. Is the Veteran required to undergo ineffective treatment to keep his claim alive? 2. Veteran seeks treatment, but the very conditions that he is suffering from causes him to discontinue treatment. Example..Veteran is seeking PTSD treatment, but depression from PTSD causes him to be "flaky" and forget his appointment. So, the VA "kicks" him out of the system for failure to show for appointment. 3. Medications..Since some meds interfere or conflict with others there is often a dilema: Should the Veteran take his depression med OR his pain meds..because these meds are not always compatable with each other, and when the Veteran takes both, sometimes he gets messed up worse than with no meds at all. Should the Veteran have to choose whether to be in pain or crazy, and then have the VA deny his claim because he had to make a difficult choice...a choice he had to make while depressed/stessed.

The Cleveland Regional Office was one of the WORST 4 Regional Offices with 58 Shredded Veterans Claims, according to the VAOIG investigation. So, How did they deal with the Shredding of claims? Jail Time? Firings? NO! The manager was PROMOTED! Its really true, and here is the link: http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfdec08/nf120408-1.htm Is it any wonder that Vets have lost confidence in the Regional Office and no longer trusts them? I hope you write to your Senator to "shred" this managers promotion, like she shredded Veterans claims.

Hoppy...great post! I used to think, like the naysayers, that the VA was all about helping Veterans and wanted to expidite my claim..they were just "to busy". However, that was 4 regional office denial decisions, 2 "lost" NOD's, and almost 8 years ago. Incredibly, I won my BVA appeal back in 2004, and the Regional Office has issued 3 of those denials since then. One of them, they didnt call a denial, they called it an "award of 0%". The courts have already decided that was illegal, but regulations did not stop the VA from doing this to me. The RO's interpret the regulations in order to further their own agenda. This court case shows that they cant do that: "There is little doubt that the claimant seeking disability compensation who receives an award of service connection,an effective date, and a 0% disability rating (with no compensation) will wonder how the claim for compensationcould be considered substantiated. See United States v Wilson, 503 U.S. 329, 336-37 (1992)" I "won" the appeal, then figured the RO would award benefits based on the BVA appeal. NOPE.I cant pay my bills with a BVA award. Its that "hidden agenda" you mentioned. There is a HUGE "BLACK HOLE" in the system: You send your NOD to the Regional Office, not the BVA, when you dispute the decision. Then, the RO decides whether or not to shred your NOD. The Cleveland RO office shredded 2 of my NOD's. So, I sent a "Special Claims Handling" request, because of mishandled documents to the Regional Office that shredded the first 2 NOD's. It is like the wolf gaurding the chicken house and providing an account of "how many chickens". And, the wolf says there are no chickens missing, but I know better.

Teac.. Of course what you said is true that for every crooked VA employee there are hundreds of honest ones. However, that is like saying it does not hurt to have a family member murdered, because for every murderer there are hundreds of non-murderers. That does not mean that if it was your loved one who was murdered you would not one the person responsible to pay for his/her crime. I dont want honest employees to pay for stealing money from Vets..I think there are a few key managers with other RO passwords who are robbing us blind. Kind of like the Wall Street guy who stole something like 50 billion..sure he had help, too, just like the few crooks in Regional Offices. I think those crooks have outsmarted us..its a "white collar..e-crime", but it is costing Vets billions.

Great point Carlie! This was brought up when the grocery stores were charging the wrong price for items with the scanners..It was pointed out that 98% of the time the "wrong price" was in the grocery stores favor. It would be logic that the "wrong price" would be just as likely to be less..UNLESS the stores "forgot" to change the price..in their favor. In a similar way, if it were just errors, it looks like there would be millions of Vets collecting more benefits than they are supposed to! I dont like the "conspiracy" word. It would only take say 2 or 3 or a half dozen crooked management to pull off a massive Veterans theft. ..oh well, I am not pretending to be completely sane, yea, I do think VA managers (some have already been convicted of fake claims and dividing the pie) are probably stealing from Veterans..I can see no other real good reason for tens of thousands of deserving Vets being delayed/denied.

Yea, I got the same thing. Dear Veteran.. We are very sorry that your evidence to your claim was shredded. It was, however, the Veterans own fault that he submitted evidence that is shreddable that did not jam our shredders. It was due to the large number of staples in Veterans claims, not the fault of VA management. Next time please submit claim forms on paper that does not contain stapels as it jams our shredders. In the future, please ask for special claims handling on forms that are easily shreddable, per Dr. Peaks fast letter 08-41. The last time the Veteran submitted evidence it jammed our shredders. Now, in lite of the fact that this is the Veterans own fault that he submitted unshreddable evidence, we just cant find any evidence supporting his claim. Therefore, we are promoting the manager at Cleveland Regional Office to Vice President IN charge of Shredding Veterans claims. Please stop your whining about shredded evidence.

Berta.. Thanks for your input. May I ask what is an "EP End Product Code", and why would VARO employees deny deserving Vets to get this? Also, more evidence has been brought to my Attention: The Cleveland RO is one of 4 RO's where the VAOIG found instances of shredded documents. If the RO would break the law and shred Veterans evidence, why stop there? Why not just fake claims, divide the pie, and spread these claims all over the country so that the RO manager does not have to take the heat. To do that, one RO just needs to be able to log onto another RO's database. Finally, what does the VA do when the RO is caught shredding evidence by the VAOIG? Why they promote the manager, of course! Shredding Veterans evidence is the fastest way to get promoted in the VA. No kidding..here is the link: http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfdec08/nf120408-1.htm

Notime I agree with commander Bob and Hoppy. You need to go ahead and ask for "Special Claims Handling" per Dr. Peak's fast letter 08-41 (document shredding). It would appear to me that you are another victim of document shredding. Go to this link for the VA watchdogs newest information on document shredding: http://www.vawatchdog.org/VAshredderscandal.htm

I do recall reading this. A hospitilization or VA doctor visit can be an informal claim for increase. IMHO you still have to ask for initial benefits by using a 21-526 application for benefits. If you have already applied for benefits, this hospitilization could be an informal claim for increase.

Yes, RonII, I agree that they probably used the wrong template. The ST. Pete template was probably used by a previous person who used that computer. Question is, of course, is why would the St. Pete Template be put in there in the first place, unless, someone was working on a ST. Pete decision in the Cleveland Office OR that decision was actually done in ST. Petersburg? It really looks like one Regional Office is logging on as another regional office. Its a tell tale sign.

Dave I do agree with Berta in that you should ask for reconsideration, just like she said. I would not worry at this point whether or not it is CUE, because you are within the one year period. CUE is normally for people who did not file a NOD within one year of the decision..and then discovered that the Regional Office violated some regulation, that is, Clear and unmistakable error. I do think that CUE cant simply be a "judgement call" where you think it should be 70% but the RO rated you at 30%. However, if you could show they failed to consider evidence, then that is CUE because the law requires they consider all evidence. Isnt that correct, Berta?

Signal You have a year from the decision to file a NOD. It sounds like you did that within the year. There are two exceptions to the "one year rule" Exception 1. In the Event of Clear Unmistakable Error, the one year limit does not apply. CUE is a higher stand than a conventional appeal..it is a collateral attack upon the decision. However, if they ignored evidence, that is an example that meets CUE standards. Read the stuff on CUE on Hadit. Exception 2. An exception to the one year rule is made in the event of multiple appeals. Someone else may be able to post the link to these rules, I could find them if no one else comes up with them.