broncovet

Yes, I saw the Dr. Phil show. I do thank Congressman Filner..and Dr. Phil they appears to be a true friend of the Vet. It is absolutely ridiculous for Veterans to have to go on Dr. Phil to get medical benefits when those should be provided by the VA. I appreciated the show and those guys not sugar coating the truth like the VA does. This "shredder gate" has been going on much too long. I think that probably the Regional Office "higher ups" are SELLING disability ratings, kind of like the governor of Illinois tried to sell Obamas senate seat. So, when they "sell" a VA disability rating, that means a deserving Veteran has to be denied. That is the crux of the reason so many Vets get the shaft, I think.

I think that is good advice Basser. Shall I tell the VARO that I am coming, or just show up? It is about 5 hours away, in Cleveland. Frankly I doubt very much that my VSO will go with me to Cleveland, but I might be able to get a new one in Cleveland, possibly, since they have a bunch of them there.

Yes, I have a copy of my C file. (That is where I found the NOD since I had forgotten about it in 4 years..It is stamped recieved by the Regional Office, and the word "appeals" is circled. Yes, the NOD was timely filed (within 60 days of the decision). No, I never got a SOC. Yes, I have a Veterans Service Officer. Yes, I said the decision was in error (there is NO specific wording required on a valid NOD), as well as the date of the decision disputed. (I even put the VA reference number on the NOD!) I filed the NOD directly to the VARO in Cleveland. Yes, it is a mess. I know they "interpreted the NOD as a claim for benefits" because I got mad and filed a writ of Mandamus. The judge ordered the Secretary to respond to my writ. In the Secretary's response, the excuse they offered was that my NOD was interpreted as a claim for benefits (In testimony by the manager of the Regional Office). The testimony was perjury, for several reasons: 1. It was not interpreted as a claim for benefits, there were no benefits awarded or declined as of that effective date. 2. She claim, in her testimony, that the VARO "did not hear" from the Veteran from 2004-2007. However, I have documents STAMPED received by the Regional office in the alleged "blackout period."

I filed a Notice of Disagreement on March 10, 2004. So far, it has been ignored. What can I do about this? I complained to them and the RO said my NOD was "interpreted as a claim for benefits". However, that statement conflicts with the evidence: 1) ON my NOD which was recieved by the Regional Office, it has "appeals" circled on it by a VA employee (although I cant make out the Employees intitials) 2. I have never received any benefits (nor denied any benefits) with an effective date of March 10, 2004. Any Advice? Can they just ignore my NOD or misinterpret it and get away with that? Thanks

Tanker Joe Thanks for serving our country. Here is my advice, and, I have been there: The VA Regional Office will do everything in their power to Delay, Deny, Discredit you. Accept that and beat the 3D's with the 7 P's..Proper Preperation Prevents Poor Performance then aPpeal, and Persist. You may even get lucky and get approved the first time, depending on your regional office though that is rare. When you go for your Audio C&P exam..do your homework. Always be 100% honest. Explain how military service trashed your hearing, for example, you fired weapons without ear protection, had to listen to jet engine noise, your superiors constantly yelled at you, etc if that is the case. Also be prepared to answer a question regarding occupational noise exposure after the military, and be prepared to answer the question, "why did you get hearing loss when your MOS normally does not have lots of noise". If you were a company chaplain, but were required to work in a hangar with jet engine noise, then tell the audiologist that. Ask your audiologist to put in your exam these words, "hearing loss most likely caused by military service".

Kelly The VA ALWAYS denies SC for hearing loss the first time. It is standard procedure, no matter what they tell you. They even denied my hearing loss the first time when my audiologist stated, "hearing loss most likely due to military service" at my comp and pension exam. The bad news is that it will take you years to fight it. The good news is you will probably eventually win as long as you dont quit. I have been denied SC for hearing loss, then it was denied again by Decision Review Officer. TWICE they cant read the audiologist opinion. Finally, the BVA can read and granted me a "complete grant of benefit sought". The regional office decided "complete" means 0%. I appealed. The regional Office decided to misinterpret my NOD as a claim for benefits AFTER sitting on my NOD for 4 years. So, I refiled the NOD, this time with CUE. (They had claimed, since they misinterpreted my NOD, that the one year period expired). So here we go again with ring around the rosie, and the Regional Office 3 D nature. Delay, Deny, and then Discredit the Veteran. They did all of those to me, and you can expect the same. Where is your regional Office? Hopefully you are not in the Midwest..Ohio, Illinois, Indiana...these are the worst in the country. New Mexico and Maine both compensate their Veterans about $4000 per year more, per Veteran than Veterans in the Midwest. REad your medical file, file NOD's and keep copies of everything. If you are in Ohio, they will shred key evidence in your claim and then blame you for not filing. Ask for "Special Claims Handling" if you believe evidence was not considered in your claim, because at least 500 Veterans had evidence shredded in at least 4 regional offices.

You can still file the NOD now..only you have to prove Clear Unmistakable Error. (CUE does not have the one year time limit.) One of the easiest ways to Prove CUE is to prove that certain evidence was not considered in the decision. Remember, you have to PROVE it. Go get the medical file. Get all the applicable decisions..approval, denial, mixed, etc. Pour over them, with the medical file, looking for instances they did not consider something in the decision..then file a cue claim. Remember, you can file for "special claims handling" if you have reason to beleive that evidence was shredded, as it was with AT LEAST 500 Veterans in 4 regional Offices. In my opinion if 4 regional offices shredded Vets files, so did most of the other 53 Regional Offices. GO to your Veteran Service Rep. They KEEP copies, many times, of evidence you submitted through them. Then ask for a complete copy of your file. Then make sure the Regional Office copies are the same and not missing stuff. if there is missing stuff, that the Veteran Service REp sent, but not in the copies of the C file from the VARO, then you got em. dont give up.

Belle, I just noticed something in YOUR NOD that you posted. There are two things required of a NOD: 1. Veteran expresses disagreement or dissatisfaction with VARO decision. 2. The Veteran desires to contest the result. (Maybe someone can look up the NOD regulations, I am doing this from memory) When you file your NOD, (and I certainly recommend you do exactly that..sooner is better than later but NEVER wait more than a year) make sure you have those two elements. I recommend you specify either (as in number two above): The Veteran desires to contest the result with a Decision Officer Review. (Of course, you can also elect to skip the Decision officer Review and go straight to the BVA. In that case, state something like "The VEteran waives the right to a decision officer review and elects instead for a BVA appeal") I recommend you CHANNEL YOUR ANGER into doing a great job stating your case with the NOD. I have been working on perfecting my NOD for MONTHS. The BVA (or DRO) will read your NOD, but may not read other stuff in your file. So make your case very clear. State exactly why you think your hubby should get a higher rating. Copy down the criteria for the disability rating you are trying to achieve. If you look it up, you can find the criteria for a 70%PTSD depression rating, for example, if you are seeking TDIU. Then, look through your hubbies entire medical records and LOOK FOR THINGS that the doctor said about your hubbys med exams that support your position of a 70% (or 100% rating) using the rating criteria. In my case, I am alleging the Regional Office "mishandled" evidence. (See fast letter 08-41) That is, they failed to cosider certain evidence through 5 regional office decisions, one DRO review and one BVA appeal. I stated it this way: This medical exam documents the Veterans 2002 claims for depression and TDIU, and, reveals the Veterans suicidal ideation's. The evidence of the Veterans suicidal ideation's was NOT considered in any Regional Office decisions. Instead, the Regional Office, in the 2005 decision rated the Veterans depression as if the Veteran had no suicidal ideation's, because suicidal ideation's are present only in the rating criteria for 70% and higher disability ratings. The Regional office rated the Veteran's depression at 30% and offered no explanations as to why it would be rated at 30% when the criteria would indicate that suicidal ideation's would warrant a minimum 70% rating. Surely, the issue of this medically documented evidence of the Veteran considering taking his own life would be worthy of consideration if this evidence were known at the time of the ratings review! The suggestion that the Regional Office knew of the Veterans suicidal ideation's but did not deem that information important enough to be included in the decision would both insult and trivialize the Veterans life. It is simply unacceptable for the Regional Office to consider the Veterans own life so trivial that it was unworthy of consideration when evaluating the Veterans depression ratings. I hope this helps. I am in nearly the same boat you are in. Good luck.

The thing you need to learn is this: The most important determing factor in evaluating your claim is your location. Not the evidence, not how well you fill out the form, not your Veterans service officer, but which state you live in and which regional Office you file in. Some regional offices are very chintzy in awarding benefits and others are more Veteran friendly. This is NOT a rumor or my idea, but the Attorney General's evaluation of the disparity among states. One article explaining it is here: http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/04/...k_vasil_of.html

I have been SC'd for hearing loss, and there is no record on my military exams of hearing loss. My audioligist offered the opinion, "hearing loss is most likely related to military service". Of course, the regional office denied my claim, but the BVA pointed out that the rating officer can not make a judgement call about my hearing loss that trumps a qualified audiologist. ONLY a qualifed audiologist can dispute that statement, and, even then, if two audiologists differ in their opinion, then the "favor the Veteran rule" should apply. In a nutshell, you need to visit an audiologist, if you havent already, and ask him/her for this opinion, and explain your reasons. If you live in a "Veteran friendly state" then you will probably be successful. I got mine through even tho I am in a very Veteran unfriendly state, Ohio. (Ohio ranks second to last in its benefits to Veterans, according to the Attorney general report) You can find it here: http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/04/...k_vasil_of.html

Belle Even tho I cant say as I blame you for being mad, there is a "silver lining" in all this. You got a decision from 2008, even tho it was bad, it was still a decision and you can now move on to appeal. My case is worse, I cant even get a decision on an appeal from 2004. The Cleveland Regional Office "misinterpreted my NOD as a claim for benefits" so, I am not even able to appeal UNLESS this interpretation is overturned. That is unlikely to happen, since the Regional Office decides how it interprets stuff. They are free to interpret anything in a manner that is consistent with their own agenda. It is like having the wolf stand guard over the hen house when we send NOD's to the Regional Office for "consideration". I wonder how many Veterans NOD's got shredded or misinterpreted, like mine.

I think your disability rating will be based on, in this order: 1) Your location..VARO's in Ohio, Illinois, or Indiana will rate you lower than New Mexico or Maine, for example. Its kind of like shopping for a home..if you want a good home, go to a nice area of town. If you want an honest disability rating, move to a "Veteran Friendly" state. 2) The rating specialist. Some of them are much more generous than others, and that will largely be determined by the "luck of the draw". Some have "good days" and bad days. 3) Lastly, by the facts. The facts are not nearly as important as #1 above, according to the Attorney Generals report of the disparity between states. So, if you are in one of the "bad states", get ready to appeal. If you are in a "good" state, then you may not have to appeal.

[i dont know about Illinois, but in Ohio a spouse AUTOMATICALLY owns half of what the other owns. I think the legal term is Dowry. For example if you got a divorce, your husband would own half the house regardless of whose name it was in. I am no lawyer/expert, to be sure,I dont see how they could claim the home is half his in a divorce, but NOT half his in regard to taxes. He either has ownership in the home or not, and if he had ownership in the case of divorce, then he would have ownership in the case of taxes. You MIGHT just be able to solve the problem by doing a quit claim deed..sign the house over from YOU, to both of you to resolve the dispute. You definately need to get in touch with a lawyer before you do that, tho.

Yes, isnt it sad, that, after we get back from fighting the enemy, we have to fight the VA even harder to get what is coming to us. Sometimes I think the VARO should be moved to Iraq and "take care" of their Veterans and get them to commit suicide, like they do our Veterans by frustrating us in poverty all these years.

I do not recommend waiting out of fear that it will hold up your other claims. I recommend you apply now, and establish an effective date. The longer you wait, the less money you will get. I say that because I did exactly that myself. Learning the hard way, it did not speed up my claim. NOTHING SPEEDS UP A VA CLAIM. I wrote them and told them I was about to be homeless, please speed up my claim. They delayed my claim more, trying to decide if my claim was worthy of a priority status. The VA works on a 3 D system. Delay, Deny, Discredit. Only the 7 P's can beat the 3D's. The seven P's are: Proper Preperation Prevents Poor Performance. Then aPPEAL. Then Persist. It really is an endurance contest with the VA. It really is better for some people to give up..you have to fight for every nickel with the VA. Decide if it is going to be worth a minimum of a five year fight for your benefits. Mine is going on its seventh year and no end in sight. What they did with me, is they denied..I appealed. DRO review..denied again. I appealed. BVA approved. Regional Office grants zero percent. I appeal. Regional office misinterprets appeal as claim for benefits and awards 40%. I file writ of mandamus demanding they do something with 2004 NOD in 2008. They said my appeal was interpreted as a benefit claim. I appeal that decision, demonstrating that my NOD met regulations for an NOD. It goes on, and on and on...they fight you tooth and nail even after you win at the BVA. They will spend $100,000 on lawyers to keep from spending $10,000 worth of benefits to you. Its the government way.

Hugh Really, no one helped me..I did it on my own. I would recommend, however, a NATIONAL DAV service officer in your area. They have the best training.

I have been approved for SC to hearing loss. Of course, the regional office denied it. The BVA, however, approved it upon appeal. When I appealed, I did my homework. I showed that San Diego California NTSC was right at the base of the airport, where planes land and take off constantly. To do this, I used google maps, and printed a map of the SSC and noted its close proximity to the end of the runway and my barracks. Next, I pointed out that my audiologist stated, "the most likely cause of the Veterans hearing loss was military service". If your VA audiologist didnt/wont do that, then get a more "Veteran friendly" audiologist who will. Explain to the audioligist that you were exposed to excessive noise in the military, and were not offered hearing protection if that is the case. You can also mention that you do not work in a particulary noisy environment (if that is the case) and that you dont listen to loud music. Be 100% truthfull, as I was, and offer "evidence" to your audiologist. Remember, that the average hearing impaired person simply lives with their hearing loss for about ten years before doing anything about it, such as getting hearing aids. Your hearing loss will be measured by the audiologist, and will offer indusputable proof of hearing loss. Service connection will be the issue..that is, if you have documented hearing loss as measured by your audiologist. The Regional Office regurarly fails to consider ALL evidence(as required by regulations)..that is, in my case the evidence that the audiologist opined that my hearing loss was most likely due to military service. The regulations state that a layperson, such as a rating service rep can NOT overide this audiology opinion WITHOUT compelling medical evidence to the contrary. That is, they cant just say, I think you hear fine, I dont care what the audiologist says, even tho that has happened to me. Even a medical doctor cannot dispute the audiologist findings, unless, that doctor is also qualified in audiology. In other words a degree in Psychology does not mean that a doctor can dispute a qualified audiologists opinion. If you look at your old audio reports, and the audiologist offered the opinion that the Veterans hearing loss was most likely due to exposure in the military, then you could have a "CUE (clear unmistakable error) claim". That is, if the regional office failed to consider that pertinent information in evaluating your claim, then that is CUE, as they are required to consider all evidence. If they have conflicting evidence that "trumps" the audiologist report, then they must state what it is in "reasons for decision". For example, if you had 3 audiologists, and one of them said it was military service but the other two said it was because you played drums in a rock band, then they have effectively "refuted" what the first audioligist said. However, if ONE audiologist says military related and the other says no, then it is a tie, and the regulations require a "favor the Veteran" attitude. That is the doctrine of "equipose". A Veteran is not required to prove his claim beyond a reasonable doubt, but only has to meet a lesser standard "at least as likely as not". We do not have to have 4 witnesses that were there when a bomb went off in a bunker that trashed our hearing to prove it. An opinion, from a qualified audiologist, that the hearing loss was "at least 50% likely due to military service will work", at least upon appeal even tho the regional office will probably turn it down. The BVA is much more thorough. Hope this helps.

Dont feel like the lone ranger of Veterans who have had problems with their Veterans Service Representative. I received a letter from the VFW indicating they were dropping representation in my case because they didnt like my chances of being approved. I am very glad I did not listen to them, as I have been approved, at least partially, no thanks to the VFW. I think they "cherry pick" Veterans who have legs blown off and just dont want to work difficult cases because they can. They made it clear that their purpose is not to serve Veterans, but rather to bolster their own numbers and receive "attaboys". Whenever someone tells you "they are with the government and are here to help you" we Vets had better get the vaseline jar, because where they put that information is gonna hurt.

I agree with Basser, get a copy of the denial letter if you dont have one. Even though the one year appeal period expired, there is always the possibility of a Clear, Unmistakable, Error (CUE) claim, altho the "CUE" standard is more difficult to prove than a "regular" appeal. However, in the event of CUE, the one year maximum appeal period no longer applies. I suggest you look up, at hadit, CUE claims to determine if it applies to your claim. Without the denial letter and other relevant details of your case contained in your Cfile, none of us can determine, for sure, if there is CUE or not.

Hugh I dont recommend you giving up just yet. First, request a complete copy of your C file and Service medical Records, if you havent already. Remember this may take months, so file a NOD now, just in case, so that it is timely. After you get these, comb through them thoroughly. Make sure that YOUR records are consistent with the records the VARO had for you. Reason: If you dont already know this, Dr. Peake has admitted that at least 500 Veterans claims records were shredded. (the actual number is probably way, way, higher as it includes only 4 regional offices. Many of the other VARO's are guilty also, it is just that no Veterans from other VARO's have gotten mad enough to file papers with the VAOIG yet) Dr. Peake has said that Veterans who beleive that evidence may have been shredded in their claim may request "Special Claims Handling". Even if there is no evidence of the above, look for evidence that the Regional Office violated regulations. Pour over CFR 38, and both CAVC and BVA cases where other Veterans have won. I even suggest you try google and hadit searches for things like "Veterans Affairs tinnitus claims" then try that again at both the CAVC site as well as the BVA. If you find evidence that another Veteran won a similar case, then cite that case in your appeal. Finally, if none of the above works, contact a Veterans lawyer and see if HE can see something you cant. He may be able to find a "legal loophole" where you get your Retro that you overlooked. Remember, our legal system is flawed with loopholes.such as OJ getting away with murder and then going to prison for stealing his own stuff back. Go on with your life in the interim and dont hold your breath waiting to win your case but be persistent..we had to fight a tough enemy in the war, and now the VA is another tough enemy. Get your boots on and get ready to fight what could be the toughest fight of your life.

Nine years is pretty bad. I have gone almost 7 years and I am probably further away from getting many of my benefits than I was seven years ago. My case will probably take at least 14 years. I would like to know whose claim is the oldest in history..we should send the VARO a "Certificate of Bad Treatment to Veterans" from Guiness Book of World Records on the slowest claim in history. I was awarded a "complete grant of benefit sought" by the BVA in early 2004. Instead of BVA compliance, the regional office "interpreted" this to mean I was to get zero percent of one of the benefits sought and a secret denial of all of the other benefts. I filed a Notice of Disagreement, but the Regional Office decided to "interpret" my NOD as a claim for benefits, so they can just ignore the NOD, also.

I agree, poolguy. For the VA to suggest that Veterans dont need representation, is like Hitler saying that Jews dont need any human rights inspections in his concentration camps. The trouble is that most Veterans can not afford a lawyer, and, of course, the VA takes full advantage of that fact. It is sad that we should have a need for a lawyer in obtaining our benefits. These benefits SHOULD be given to the Veteran without a lawyer, however, that is often not the case. Right now, the system favors the Veteran who is connected well enough to obtain a "pro bono" attorney. There is also a "luck of the draw", too. If a Veteran is lucky enough to have "drawn" a Rating Specialist who is fair, and a Regional Office that is fair, they are much more likely to obtain benefits. However, many of the rating specialists are downright stingy. I would love to see the "tables turned" and the Rating Specialists paychecks determined by Veterans they have served. I wonder how many "lost NOD's" we would have if the Regional Office bigshots bonuses were adversely affected by each "lost NOD"?

Unfortunately, this system is set up so that the wolf guards the hen house. When you send a NOD to the Regional Office, they can simply disregard it entirely, like they did mine. When I finally got so mad that the Cleveland Regional Office failed to take action on my NOD that I filed a Writ of Mandamus, the Regional Office responded that my NOD was "interpreted as a claim for benefits". The Regional Office has no accountability..how do you think they got away with shredding these documents all these years? The Regional Office "interprets" regulations in a manner consistent with their own agenda. That is, if they just plain dont like you, then they "interpret" the regulations in a manner unfavorable to the Veteran. Remember the regulation "favor the Veteran"? They interpret this one as "forget the Veteran", and, unfortunately, we cant do anything about it except send a NOD to the Regional Office which winds up in the "We dont have any record of your NOD" file. As mentioned, whenever the wolf guards the hen house, you have a conflict of interest.