donews

Soul, Tell your wife to relax, she just needs to tell the truth and explain things as they are. This is not like a Perry Mason trial or anything if thats what your asking. Like Berta said just get your ducks in a row and you should be ok. Good luck!

Amen Rental! Rental is on the money with this one. Follow his advice and you should be good to go.

I found this while researcing last night. I have seen a lot on Hadit recently about people being possibly considered incompetant and hope this information can help someone fight it. §3.353 Determinations of incompetency and competency. (a) Definition of mental incompetency. A mentally incompetent person is one who because of injury or disease lacks the mental capacity to contract or to manage his or her own affairs, including disbursement of funds without limitation. (b) Authority. (1) Rating agencies have sole authority to make official determinations of competency and incompetency for purposes of: insurance (38 U.S.C. 1922), and, subject to §13.56 of this chapter, disbursement of benefits. Such determinations are final and binding on field stations for these purposes. (2) Where the beneficiary is rated incompetent, the Veterans Service Center Manager will develop information as to the beneficiary's social, economic and industrial adjustment; appoint (or recommend appointment of) a fiduciary as provided in §13.55 of this chapter; select a method of disbursing payment as provided in §13.56 of this chapter, or in the case of a married beneficiary, appoint the beneficiary's spouse to receive payments as provided in §13.57 of this chapter; and authorize disbursement of the benefit. (3) If in the course of fulfilling the responsibilities assigned in paragraph (b)(2) the Veterans Service Center Manager develops evidence indicating that the beneficiary may be capable of administering the funds payable without limitation, he or she will refer that evidence to the rating agency with a statement as to his or her findings. The rating agency will consider this evidence, together with all other evidence of record, to determine whether its prior determination of incompetency should remain in effect. Reexamination may be requested as provided in §3.327(a) if necessary to properly evaluate the beneficiary's mental capacity to contract or manage his or her own affairs. © Medical opinion. Unless the medical evidence is clear, convincing and leaves no doubt as to the person's incompetency, the rating agency will make no determination of incompetency without a definite expression regarding the question by the responsible medical authorities. Considerations of medical opinions will be in accordance with the principles in paragraph (a) of this section. Determinations relative to incompetency should be based upon all evidence of record and there should be a consistent relationship between the percentage of disability, facts relating to commitment or hospitalization and the holding of incompetency. (d) Presumption in favor of competency. Where reasonable doubt arises regarding a beneficiary's mental capacity to contract or to manage his or her own affairs, including the disbursement of funds without limitation, such doubt will be resolved in favor of competency (see §3.102 on reasonable doubt). (e) Due process. Whenever it is proposed to make an incompetency determination, the beneficiary will be notified of the proposed action and of the right to a hearing as provided in §3.103. Such notice is not necessary if the beneficiary has been declared incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction or if a guardian has been appointed for the beneficiary based upon a court finding of incompetency. If a hearing is requested it must be held prior to a rating decision of incompetency. Failure or refusal of the beneficiary after proper notice to request or cooperate in such a hearing will not preclude a rating decision based on the evidence of record. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a)) [36 FR 19020, Sept. 25, 1571, and 40 FR 1241, Jan. 7, 1975, as amended at 42 FR 2069, Jan. 10, 1977; 58 FR 37856, July 14, 1993; 60 FR 55792, Nov. 3, 1995; 66 FR 48560, Sept. 21, 2001; 67 FR 46868, July 17, 2002; 68 FR 34542, June 10, 2003]

Well to be quite frank, yes there is a timeline. Whenever they get off their arse and someone decised to get er done. Not trying to be funny, but being real. I do not know that they have a legal obligation to do so in any amount of time and if they did, they would not care. Sorry, "Just the Facts Maam", Just the facts.

Yes, google Obstructive Sleep Apnea and follow some of the links. Here is a section from the National Institute of Health government website: Untreated sleep apnea can: Increase the risk for high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and diabetes Increase the risk for or worsen heart failure Make irregular heartbeats more likely Increase the chance of having work-related or driving accidents

I am a bit confused. In the original post you stated that they Denied her RECENTLY for Fibromyalgia. In the last post you said it was past one year already since denial. Is this a different condition your talking about now or the same one? Not trying to be trouble, just wanting to make sure I / we all understand the exacts so we can possible offer the best advice. Maybe you can take a min to give a small timeline, something like : feb 1820 - Filed for Nose falling off mar 1821 - denied said dog bit it off not service connected jun 1821 - filed nod or something like that. Just trying to help.

Soul, Calm down. Take some deep breaths. Do not let yourself get all out of whack to the point that you go to the hearing not ready. Once you get calm, then attack the task of preparing. I would suggest you make sure you are aware of the regs front to back on the rating criteria for 100% PTSD, and I would have copies of every document I can find that supports that reg / rating copied and ready for reference and review. As for them referencing the doctor checking that you were NOT occupationally impaired, if this was a checkup C&P, that could be the reason they are trying to reduce. The VA has adopted the criteria established in the DSM-IV as the basis for its psychiatric ratings, including PTSD. 38 C.F.R. § 4.130, DC 9411 General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders: Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought process or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation occupation, or own name …………………..100% Also remember if they are able to get you reduced, make sure you file for TDIU immediately.

I am with these two on that. It sounds like your claim was adjudicated and rated. If so its closed. Unless appealed. And if the continued the rating without increase (thats what I am hearing anyhow) then its also closed and ajudicated. May I ask why you never appealed any of these, you show several dates that you received communications and said you never appealed anything, why? As for the PTSD, it can be taken away if not 20 years continous and it can be reduced, also if you die, it must be proven by nexus that the cause of death was related to the PTSD, not just saying your PTSD could cause a heart attack so if you die of a heart attack, your family would have to be able to get a credentialed expert to show that your heart attack was caused by the PTSD, and thats not always easy when your dead. Just my two cents.

Welcome to Hadit!

Hello! Welcome to Hadit. Having your primary care provider diagnose the condition is the first step. Did he diagnose it as new or did he diagnose it as manifesting years ago? I would assume as long as there is proof (would be easier if it was some proof other than just related meds) of it manifesting in or within a certain period of service or a nexus to another Service Connected condition you should be ok. I am not positive if you should do and NOD or a Request for Reconsideration or what as you need to submit this new evidence, but I am sure someone a little more knowledgable about this situation will be along shortly. Good luck and thank you both for your service!

You are right, it could be on the way. I requested my C-Files Feb 8th 2008 and called them a few weeks later to verify the status. They put me on hold and went to check, she told me she spoke with the Privacy Officer handling my folder, and that due to the current backup it would be about another four weeks before I should expect it. The NEXT DAY around 9:30 am I hear the doorbell ring, I open the door and the Fed Ex guy is pulling out of my drive. I look down and there is a box from the VA, it had my C-File in it. So sometime you just never know.

Have you called the 800#? If not, do so, if you get an a%shole, call back a day or an hour later. I usually have no problem getting an answer as to where my file is or what current status it is in. Have you obtained the results of the C&P exams yourself? If not go obtain those and send them into the RO yourself, it has happened in the past that they for whatever reason had to have someone pinch their a&s to get things moving. When they sent my claim out for an opinion, it took them four or five months to get it back from the opining doctor. But I would suggest saving a bag of air opps I mean politician as a last resort as they will get your claim off track for about two months even if they can be helpful.

I am going to do my best to remember this myself. I think this will be an interesting show.

I once ran into a mugger on a bad night that wanted to kill me. Is that the same? Ok ok now to be cereal I have never met one.

I have talked to several Vets that swear by it. Myself, I take 1800 mg of Gabapentin Daily. If I miss a dose, I know it real nice like.

Ok I understand a lot more. Thank you, just trying to get my brain un mixed. The reason they hang up is they do not want to be held accountable for anything they tell you that is bs.

Mcafee, Please excuse my ignorance, I am trying to follow your post, so I am going to ask if I understand things correctly. So you already explained the original letter you posted about the RO. I got that part. From what I am seeing now, you applied for a Route Carrier / Carrier position sometime in 1983 and they denied you stating that it is not reasonable to accomidate someone who can not bend / climb / ect for this type of position. Then in 1984 you applied for another type of position and they denied you due to being a communist / kgb / anything they could think of? Am I with it so far? I agree the one about being loyal is just BS. They just didn't have any creative people in the office that day to come up with something better. I do not know that you can appeal or argue such a claim this many years later. JMO As for recordings, I am not totally clear about the law, but the state I live in is a one party state. As long as one party is aware of the recording and that party can be you, then they do not even need to tell the other person about it. But I am pretty sure that all states have an exclusion or atleast the feds have a law that excludes federal entities from that rule. I know I was told by my attorney that I was not allowed to bring a recorder to a meeting with the IRS once even though the IRS was allowed and required that I agree to be recorded or they would not meet with me.

Hello, Welcome To Hadit. Always glad to see another member added. I am sorry to hear of you back troubles. I have a lot of back and neck problems as well, but none that are in the same field as yours. I just wanted to say that my son has had two back surgeries for the same type of problems you discussed. They wanted him to undergo some kind of complete spinal replacement back in the early 1990's. He told them absolutely not. His first surgery he spent about two weeks in the hospital recovering. Then he was good to go for years. But back in 2002 he was at the point of the pain being unbearable and his partial paralysis came back, so he opted to have another surgery. This time with the new technology he was home in two days and is doing ok so far to this time. He still has his bad days now and then, but he sure is glad he didnt have that major surgery. He said if his paralysis wasn't relieved with the minor surgery, he could see nothing to loose by having the major one, but until then, he did not want to risk it. I sure hope yo can find something other than a major surgery to help you. If you must have the surgery, I pray it goes well and gives you some relief. Good luck!

Well if I had any part in it, you are certainly welcome. I am glad to see that you are getting the help that you need and that you are learning.

Your son definately has my prayers. And my thanks!

Yes, I see it that way. JMO

That is a shame. But this happens at any mid to large size organization, and that includes all the government entities also. The biggest issue when it happens in the government is usually the lack of oversight and the lack of accountability of taxpayer money.

As always, Berta is on the money. Good luck on your claim!

Thats not THE Marion Berry is it? If so umm well anyhow. I have seen some say they have gotten results from using a politician, but the major (95%) of them have said it is a waste. I would not want to have my file pulled and add to the delay by doing this. Just my two cents.

It is great to hear news like this. I am glad for you.