mssoup1

I went to Berta blogs, but it showed it was empty. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks, Bev/

My husand and I have had a lot of dealings with the VAMC in Salem, Virginia. This VAMC is an old, but large facility. Some good, some bad care. Depends on the doctor, the type of care you need and whether it is inpatient or outpatient care. In order to get any specialized treatment for a new problem, we have to go through his primary care doctor and only hope that she puts in for him a visit. They have had so many problems with keeping competent dermatologists that they no longer have this facility up and running. This is now done as an outside fee basis service. Also, it is near impossible to get any doctor to put anything in your record which will help you in your claim. It's like maybe they have been instructed to not include anything in any records which may assist the veteran with his claim. This includes any C & P examinations. Pulmunary clinic has been good so far. Previous Primary care doctor was great, but my husband does not like the one he has now. Eye clinic is not very good. Hearing clinic has been good so far. Forget the patient advocate. My husband and I made an appointment to see her (they have two) because my husband was not happy with his primary care doctor and wanted to change. We were told that the rules had changed on how they handle these type of situations. He needed to first work out the problems with his primary care and if that didn't work, to come back to see her., We had explained that we had tried this and it didn't work. She said to try again. My point is, what are they paying her for. I thought that was her job to insure that if the veteran had any problems which needed to be resolved, that she was there as the mediator ti fix it. Guess not. I guess all VAMC's are just like any other medical facility. Depends on the doctor you have and the facility that you are going to. Some good, some bad, whether it is through the VA or as independent care. It also has to do with a conflict in personalities between doctor and patient. My husband is 50% SC, so he usually doesn't have a problem in getting his ongoing appointments set up. For a return visit, they tell him to call two weeks ahead of time for an appointment. When he calls they set him up for two weeks out. This usually works okay. This again is only my opinion of this VAMC. There may be others who think it is a lot better or a lot worse. You can only know what is happening by hearing stories from the examples of what other veterans have gone through. By the way. Roanoke, Virginia has a Vet Center and has been great. Not only have they dealt with my husbands problems with one on ones and group therapy, but they work with him and I together. The Social Worker that oversees this facility is Dan Karnes and is great with dealing with all of the veterans he sees. He goes above ad beyond in trying to do everything he can to assist the veteran and the spouse, if need be. Hope this info may help someone.

You need to type in 03-37 357 in the search box. Leave the year field as ALL. I did this and found it. If you need any further help finding it, let me know. Bev.

You need to look up this docket number under the BVA - Board of Veteran Appeals, not the U. S. Court of Appeals. Hope this helps you. Bev

Berta, I think these posts of yours are great. You have really detailed what is happening to you for others to read and hopefully gain some insight from. Not only do I feel that this site is to help someone out in filing a claim, listening to someone vent a little, but also for the veterans to post here their experiences they have had at the different levels. While it is understandable that we all know that VARO's in various areas are different in how they service the vet, that makes it all the more reason to post here and let others know what walls they have run into. It may or may not help someone else in working their claims, but it cannot hurt. I have learned a lot in reading the posts from those who describe in a little more detail of what has happened to them along the way. Knowing the ins and outs of submitting a claim is very important, knowing someone was denied or approved is also important to hear, but really relating in detail the things that happen in between is also very important to others in helping them. Thanks, Bev.

I have also had a lot of dealings with the VARO. If they want you off of their back, they will just deny your claim (and believe me for some of the most stupid reasons) just to be able to throw your file under the huge stack and then they can mark this as one that they have responded to in order to be able to go on to the next. In fact, we just received one of those standard letters telling us that they are still processing my husbands claim and they are sorry for the delay. STILL PROCESSING HIS CLAIM. When they start on it? We were just at the VARO speaking to a rep and they had not even pulled it to work on it. And several of these are remands from the BVA that has been sitting at the VARO since January 05. When we had a hearing with the BVA, they appeared to be so upset with the findings of the VARO that they instantly approved 2 of his claims. The others were remanded back to the VARO because of things the VARO should have done and didn't. In fact, during our hearing, the law judge brought up issues that we discussed and told the VARO in the decision letter that the veteran brought up these particular issues and that they should be reviewed for service connection. Needless to say, I filed these as new claims. I really felt good about the BVA hearing my husband had, but experiences with another BVA hearing for another veteran did not go as well. The law judge he had kept looking at his watch and out the window as though he could have cared less about being there and was ready for lunch. So, it is with every thing else. It just depends who you end up with reviewing your claim at every level. In reading another post here about different diagnosis, we've been there too. My husband had a claim in for an eye condition, secondary to his service connected skin condition. The VAMC doctors wanted to call this condition everything under the sun to keep from linking it with his skin condition. We had an IMO and he plainly stated in his letter that his eyes and skin were more likely than not related. He worded the letter the way the VARO wanted to see it. He stated that he didn't care what diagnosis was written down, it was all the same and was related. The VARO turned the claim down because they wanted to know where the IMO got his opinion. Took this back to our IMO and he was furious that they would question his ability to diagnose a condition he specialized in. Needless to say, this is one of the claims that we instantly got approved at the BVA level. Also, when we originally filed a claim years ago for his skin condition, it was plainly stated in his service records that he was constantly being treated for skin problems. In their notes, they called it tinea pedis. When he started being treated later for this, the diagnosis changed constantly. At this time, it was like it was in his blood stream and constantly spreading to other parts of his body. After years of fighting, we finally got an approval based on the fact that regardless of what different doctors wanted to call the condition, it was all related to what he had been treated for while in service. We currently have a claim in for an increase in his skin condition. Two years ago, the regs changed to state that if the condition affected more that 40% of the body, then he could file for an increase. Well, his progress notes from the VAMC state consistently that this condition is all over his body. While they may list different parts of his body, they then include the word body. Even in his C & P exams that he has previously had, they include the word "body". Well, recently he was put on a fee basis to see an ouside dermatologist. The local VAMC cannot keep dermatologists. On his very first visit, he spent maybe 5 minutes or less with the doctor. He only looked at a couple parts of his body and then started prescribing medication. When I made the comment about him having this all over his body, he quickly took the defensive and said it didn't appear that way to him. He didn't look at his entire body, therefore, how would he have known. Almost makes you want to think he was a doctor on the VAMC payroll. Here was basically a doctor giving an independent opinion, but appeared to not want to say anything which may help the veteran. Even though he did not look at but a couple of areas on his body, he will probably not document that this condition affects his entire body and anyone looking at his claim will assume the doctor did a complete examination. Go figure. Cannot win for losing. No wonder veterans get tired and give up. I'm at a point that it will almost take the President of the United States to turn him down before I quit. Sorry for the long posting, but I thought that maybe some of our experiences may help someone else out. Thanks, Bev.

Berta, I've been helping a Vet with a back claim that he has. This has not been an easy claim. He made a trip to the local VARO to take some additional evidence we had on his claim and talked with a rep there. The rep actually went and got his folder and proceded to look through it. To my astonishment, there were e-mails written from the VARO to the C & P examiner and back. He went through 2 C & P exams since we stated that the first one was an incompetent exam. When the C & P examiner from the first incompetent exam responded back to the e-mail, she made comments and statements about the contents of the exam and did not even have his file in front of her. In fact, some of this e-mailing was done from the examiners home and not at the VAMC office. We also could not understand why she would be responding to an e-mail, since her exam was considered incompetent and the veteran was afforded another exam by an actual doctor. The e-mails also contained conflicting information in them. Needless to say, I jumped on this big time. Had he not gone to the VARO and had a chance to look at his file, he would never have seen this correspondence which took place. Amazing what type of correspondence goes on in the background that you are not aware of and can have a huge impact on your claim. We've been all the way to a BVA hearing and now awaiting to hear something back from them on his claim. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that he hears something good back from them. Would really make my day. Bev.

My husband currently has a SO as his POA, but you would never know it. I don't want to mention any names here as I did that once before and got slammed big time by someone from this board. The person contacted our SO and I even got a phone call personally from the SO. But, that is not to say there are not good SO's out there. We have just never been lucky enough to find one who wants to listen or do any thing to help. In fact, the current SO we have was in attendance at my husbands BVA hearing. Instead of him speaking only about my husbands claim, he started talking about his problems. Needless to say, my husband went off and let him have it. I think the law judge jumped a little at that point. I basically handled the entire BVA hearing myself because our SO was incapable of helping. He is an older fellow, very nice, but getting too old to handle veterans claims. I'm just glad I'm in a position to handle his claims for him. Thanks for letting me vent. Bev.

I am at a loss. If a veteran has been given a GAF of 45 for the past two years by his VAMC psychiarist, why would it be expected of the vet to have IMO's and C & P exams. If they do not consider the opinions and diagnosis of their own doctors, then why are the veterans being sent there for care? Bev.

Berta, It appears that you can send the VARO anything you want and they either read it or not, acknowledge it or not, or read into it what ever they want to. I had letters from IMO's. The VARO's response was "so, where did the doctor get his opinion from?" Took this back to our IMO and he was totally in awe. Could not believe they would dispute his opinion. Finally got an instant approval through the BVA on this one. Sent in letters from the Vet Center. They never acknowledged they even received this evidence. So, I sent it again, along with another recent letter, and reminded them that this was evidence that they never showed they received. Filed a couple of claims for secondary issues to my husbands already service connected conditions. Received a letter back wanting me to send in any evidence that showed these claims were directly related to his military service. Do they not read. Again, I send another letter back telling them that these claims were not for direct service connected issues, but were for secondary issues to already service connected conditions. I think what is happening here is that they send you what ever they want in a letter just to show that the claim is being worked. This gives them more time. After 5+ years of some of these claims, remands from the BVA that date back to January and we receive a letter from the VARO yesterday telling us that they are sorry for the delay of his case. I think the only thing that prompted this was our visit to the VARO and the representative entered a couple of statements into his record concerning the secondary issues letter we had previously received. It's bad enough that you have to wait on a decision, but to continously receive frivilous letters from them that you then have to respond back to his so very frustrating in itself. With claims this old, I don't think they venture too far back into the veterans file anyway to really look at what the initial claim was actually about and the evidence that was submitted. Therefore, each time you respond back, it seems that you are starting all over again by rehashing the content of your claim all over again. No wonder so many veterans get upset and throw in the towel. Just my opinions, Bev.

I guess there are a lot of cases where an IMO meant something for a veteran at the VARO level. But, my husband had an IMO from his eye doctor and used all the words the VARO should have wanted to hear. Couldn't get the VAMC to do this. The VARO again denied his claim, even with the IMO. When we got to the BVA level, they gave him an instant approval on his eyes. Took 5+ years to get this to happen. There are so many variables that are involved in filing a claim that no one will ever know exactly how to file a claim to get a fair rating. I could file a claim for a specific issue and get it approved in 3 months. Someone else could file the same claim, the same way, with the same evidence and either get it quickly denied or it takes years to get a decision. Talk about confusing and frustrating.

Rich, Thanks for this link. The guy in prosthetics told him about this football player passing away due to possible sleep apnea, but I didn't know where to find the article. Thanks again.

My husband just recently was put on a Bipap machine. This is different in that there are two air flows (in and out) instead of just one like the Cpap machine. His is set at 14 breathing in and 7 breathing out. They also gave him a humidifier that hooks up to the machine for moisture. He is currently on just a full nose mask. Only can keep it on a couple of hours a night, then takes it off. I stay on him about it, hoping he will not quit. I think if he gives it time, he may be able to get use to it. The mask also irritates his face because he has such dry skin and itching. He may have to try the nasal pillows if the mask doesn't work. While we were both in the office, I had them to explain to him that sleep apnea can cause death. My husband has always said that that you cannot die from it. I am also hoping that this statement will keep him using it. Don't want to scare anyone here, but this is the reality of this problem. My son knows several firefighters who have sleep apnea and have a Cpap machine. (My son is a firefighter, invesigator, EMT and cardiac tech) He has told his dad that while it took them a while to adjust to theirs, they now never leave home without it. For the veterans who have PTSD and other sleep problems, it may take longer. I'm sure it will for my husband. But just hang in there. This machine can only be of a great benefit to you. Bev.