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brokensoldier244th
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Posts posted by brokensoldier244th
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3 minutes ago, Rivet62 said:
Does radiculopathy count as a back issue? I don't even know if my radiculopathy is rated as secondary to my back issues. Once again having the C-File would help a lot. How do I find out what the secondary conditions are in my existing claims?
Radiculopathy falls under partial paralysis of the peripheral nerves and is usually rated separately. Its not a super high threshold. When I got hurt and ruptured two discs I knew it because I couldn't feel my toes all the way- like coming in from a cold day, but all the time. I don't have foot drop but I have reduced poke sensation and I occasionally miss steps because my toes don't want to work that day. Falling down stairs is fun /sarc. Needless to say I watch my feet when I walk unless I'm in a familiar place.
4142s are for medical information not employment information. They are a release form for records, and are only needed for medical, or investigative records from police, shore patrol, SHARP/SAPRO, etc. They don't have anything to do with your employment. Thats the 21-4192.
SMC K is used a lot with *ahem* sexual issues, too. You can get SMC-K for a dead pencil.
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Nope, I get it. Just laying out that normally thats what *should* happen. Those 4142's, though- SUPER IMPORTANT. We cannot request records from private providers without them, and signed. Period. BLUF. Unless you get your records yourself, and I mean not just the page of 3 that support what you are claiming, but at least a few months or more of treatment history. If your provider charges for them? VA doesn't pay for it. I usually send a letter if I see the 'reject' from our vendor that does all the direct records requests so the veteran knows that we don't have them because the provider charges. That's what should be done every time but I catch it sometimes, and ive probably forgotten a few, too.
Also- food for thought- don't always throw the kitchen sink in with your 8940- unless you are literally collectively filing for all the stuff that impedes your employability because you need to. Otherwise, later, when you try to apply for housebound or something if those conditions are lumped in with IU already they don't count towards the 60% you need for SMC's higher than SMC-K. Try to leave some stuff out in the background that could potentially get worse to file for later.
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20 minutes ago, Buck52 said:
Get all Dr's Reports from your VAMC make copies,
Find the report that your Dr or DOCTOR'S MENTION in there report that you are unable to work due to your disability that occured while in military...military location date it occured, but you don't really need that but it helps ease their minds knowing you have that evidence when they make the decision. your DD 214 Should have your service dates and locations you served.
you will a Dr to say in his report that he has exmined you and HE/SHE Doctor will need to say that
''due to your disabilty that occured while you wer ein the military or when you first became disabled.''(these reports should have the dates and the Dr' creditinals and your SS $ ON THEM SOME WHERE. MAKE SURE YOUR DR IS QUAILFIED TO RENDER A MEDICAL STATEMENT
MD;s AND SPECIALIST ARE GREAT TO USE watch out for> THE NURSE PRACTIONERS or P.A, Are not so good but if they are certifeld in the field of medcine thatclaiming your disability is. then yes they will accept their medical reports.
Underline or color highlite these Dr's statments make your self copies and send in with your TDIU Form or ask your VSO to submit these statements, along with medical reports that you have from the past
Also if you have any SOCIAL SECURITY medical reports or if you are receiving SS THAT YOU ARE RECEIVING DUE TO YOUR MILITARY EVENT OR INJURY THAT CAUSED YOU TO BE DISABLED.add those records in with your TDIU Claim.(SEND THOSE IN TOO)
The main thing a Veteran will need is his Dr saying in his report ''I have examine Veteran Smith and read his medical records and it is my findings this Veteran can't work or do any type of sedentary work due to his disability that he says happend/occured in the military .
It will help if you have thos records too VSR VETERN SERVICE RECORDSM MEDICAL RECORDS THAT THE INNCEDENT OR EVENT HAPPY ON YEAR MONTH AND DATE Name of your company commander and your unit and your lay statement it can help your Statement ''In support of claim/claim's
KEEP ALL YOUR PAPER WORK IN A NEAT FORM WHEN YOU SEND IT IN IF YOU USE THE MAIL SERVICE OTHER WISE ELECTRONIALLY FILE in order if you have all your paper work neat, it helps them to read what your claiming a lot better vs this record or records mixed in with your claim
I may be leaving something out others will chime in to help you
Good Luck and welcome to Hadit
We automatically request SSA records for a 8940- its part of the intake process. Its one of the first things that is done and if its NOT done the raters do it and if they find them and you didn't then you get cited for it.
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Approximations, at least, because when we request the records from them a lot of their file clerks return our (your) 4142s as "incomplete treatment dates...." or "dates not found......" etc. They don't do a search just "Rivet XYZ.....Dates of treatment 01/01/1900_______ to ____Present Dates_____ . That would make sense. No, they want treatment dates and if they don't find all of it between those dates because you mis-remembered something it has to be re-requested on a new 21-4142a because if we just edited the PDF for the new dates 1. its illegal if we do it and 2. they won't accept it as genuine because it's altered. There are only a very few forms we can edit that you send in- POA is the main one, and that's only if you revoke, because there is a section on the form specifically for that that we can fill in and re-save.
Plus, if you put dates on there it gives me an idea of where to search in your VAMC notes, too, just in case you were seeing both at the same time.
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The decision letter is the official notification. While it is part of your Efile, decisions are not posted on Ebenefits or VA.gov in their entirety. The print version, or, alternatively, looking at your percentage on your benefits letter (which would be updated when the decision is entered before the decision letter is generated) is the way to check.
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You would file a supplemental- primary or secondary isn't something that you claim, though you can try to sort it out if you feel that they are. We go back through the 526 and the prior rated conditions to try to determine primary or secondary. Its helpful if you make a note about it but not necessary. I don't know about other VSRs but If im in doubt I file it for both primary and secondary opinions when I send the exam request anyway.
As for whether or not they will go back to 2018, usually you have to appeal it within a year (filing the supplemental). You can argue for an earlier effective date if you can determine that you have evidence that was not considered and should have been of record at the time (i.e. You sent in private records that don't show in the reviewed evidence on the decision, or it was in federal records that we should have had but didn't) This happens sometimes because when you discharge all your records are not always uploaded at one time. Ive done DPRIS (personnel record searches a month or two after the initial search and found more stuff that was uploaded/added to a veterans personnel file after the Service initially sends it to us, for example. Same with medical, sometimes they send what they have, but you have some piece of paper from a sick call or military treatment facility that doesn't make it into your AHLTA (electronic health record) that is sent to us automatically when you file, or that we request from National Personnel Record center.
There was a post about this a few weeks ago on Hadit. Do a search for 3.156 (here is the the text of 3.156)
- Rivet62, ShrekTheTank and Vync
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You fill out a new 21-22 with your new rep. Then upload it (or they might). This will trigger the removal of the other POA. You don't even have to tell the other one that you kicked their can.
You can't 'request' P&T. Its not a rating action. Its something that usually kicks in after about 5 yrs or when your conditions are all static (usually 5ish yrs of either no change or at least no changes for the better).
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There is no line item for it- it costs nothing except time and some postage.
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3 hours ago, blahsaysme2u said:
i know you have a vested and lets be honest- a bit biased opinion on the subject. and not saying one way or the other...but to say that the VA in general doesnt want to delay and deny claims i think you can see from the evidence is wrong(even from comments and questions here on HADIT).
i dont want to discuss it here on the OP's question- but felt it was worth noting that VSR's may not be told to have an agenda, but we can all see that if delaying or denying saves the VA money, that particular VSR is going to be thought of as "good at their job" while someone that pushes through vets to get claims awarded, in turn losing the VA lots of money(some hundreds of thousands in back pay) that VSR might not get a raise or worse be let go. saying they dont have an agenda seems a bit of cognitive dissonance.
i think you probably do your job great and certainly great recourse here on HADIT for your fellow vets. and i hope you are right, unfortunately the VA has a bad track record. CUE's wouldnt be a thing if they did things by the book all the time....
and remember veterans moto for the VA: "Delay, Deny, Wait Till They gives up or Dies"
Well, I suppose but since 4 or 5 of the people on my team this last year have well over 100,000 a piece in granted claims, including some Nehmer's that they caught errors on, we can agree to disagree on the saving money part. 2 of them were in my same training group locally. If VA was trying to save money they wouldn't have to go beg before Congress every year for money.....in part to pay you.
If your mindset is always going to devolve to thinking we all twist our mustaches every morning before work with an agenda to screw veterans then there isn't much more I can say on the subject. I appreciate that you appreciate my contributions here, and I like to contribute here- I feel that a view within the VA of what is happening benefits all of you.
In the same vein, its really hard to continuously take the brunt of "well, its not YOU........just everything that you work for and everyone that you work with........but YOU are Great (most of the time..." Its tired. Yes the VA screws up, but good grief very few of anyone on there ever seems to appreciate that there are things that have gotten better. Instead, most of what I hear is bolstered up by stuff that happened years ago but still gets pulled out and presented to new veterans like it happened last month. This make them hesitate to file for things that they should- because I DO public contact events sometimes where I am , and I hear it all the time. "some site on the internet said......." blah blah blah.......
I'm kinda sick of it, because then I have to work three times as hard to get them to actually file for stuff. Private Snuffy Esquire is still alive and well and the amount of DIS information that these guys and girls get from places, including here, is astounding. Yes, the information on this site and others is usually, sometimes eventually, correct but they have to sift it out. You can't complain about veterans not getting benefits for years in one breath while also supplying some of the attitude and opinions that make them not file in the first place. If I had a dollar for every veteran ive physically talked to that said they were hesitant about filing at all because all they have ever heard about the VA was bad........
Yes, I have some vested interest- ive never said otherwise. But I also feel that I try not to whitewash things too much, either. I may be more optimistic that some of you- can't help it, but the amount of things that some of you assume are done just because VA wants to f*ck with you is astounding- and contributes directly to what I mentioned up above- net result- fewer veterans filing, and is a lot of the reason most VSR's don't make it past the first year out of training.
Im taking a few days off from here.
Best, to all of you.
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There’s not a limit that I’m aware of.
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Email to where?
Never mind, checked form. That’s new. I don’t do anything with this so I don’t see them very often
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It has nothing to do with being a 'delaying tactic' as the person that would have processed the claim intake has no stake in whether it grants or not. We get the claim, look at it, and determine what is necessary for it to move forward, thats it.
Im only speculating on the holdup for this claim. It may have nothing to do with records and everything to do with other things. Without seeing it I have no idea. Lets not attribute to malice things that are likely not. VSR's aren't paid to have agendas, and other than a sense of purpose we get nothing based on whether your claim is granted or isn't.
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Maybe, if the RO is open and if there is someone there that is available to access it. You'd definitely want to call ahead first, though. They aren't going to let you move in and print stuff and take notes for the day, though, if they did. RO's are all operating on a limited footing right now and based on the last email I got from local leadership, will continue to do so well past 30JAN, when we were initially looking to start transitioning back to the office-at least where I am in the Midwest. Other RO's may have different local polices based on whatever the conditions are where they are located.
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The snag is your service records or STR's, I almost guarantee it. NPRC (National Personnel Records Center) has been on limited to no internal staff in the building for almost 2 yrs. If the records were not already digitized then they are literally found and scanned, and if they are on a reduced or no staffing footing they can only get the records that are already digitized. I have an occasional contact there that I talk to through Fb and last year in June/July they were something like 400,000 claims behind. Claims for them are not just ours, though, they are civilian requests, also- grandpa's medals, civilian service agencies, genealogy, stuff like that. I put in an NPRC request for records to verify combat action or AOE or something I can usually guarantee 3 months, probably more, and in some cases ive had a case come back around to me that has been waiting for almost a year. We can work your claim based on what you send in, and in some cases piece together enough to actually send to rating but without having service records on file its all still quasi speculation. We have to have the STRs and we have to have the service records.
Luckily in the last few months there has been a relaxing of that for service verification where we can accept non-official, non-certified documents as proof of service in the absence of anything else, provided we can verify that they look to be unaltered. This falls first on the baseline VSR (me). You can imagine that I am hesitant in what I think about the whole thing- I like that I can potentially move a claim along faster without the official certification, but on the other hand I am not a document forensics specialist. I do, and have done in the past, some IT security stuff so there is some overlap with identifying computer altered documents, but its not like its on my resume or anything or part of my job duties. I don't not want to approve them and move the claim along but I don't want some guy in Duluth that has never served getting the farm because he happened to be a wiz with Adobe, either.
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14 minutes ago, deedub75 said:
I hope that reasonable accommodation process run smoothly for you. My last job was with CBP working in the finance division. At one point, I was working from home 4 days a week. I didn't have to get up early and make that 45 minute comment everyday. This helped my health conditions tremendously and allow me to keep working and be productive. Then management decided they didn't want us having that many telework days so they said we could no longer have consecutive telework days so I could only have 5 telework days in a 2-week period. I started having health issues that made it difficult for me to work. I started missing a lot of days and had difficulty working on the days I did work. I went on intermittent FMLA and eventually full FMLA for a while.
I applied for reasonable accommodation that would allow me to work from home 5 days a week. I also applied for FERS disability retirement. They fought me tooth and nail on the reasonable accommodation and treated me like crap and would not approve my request. Though the union, I appealed and it eventually reached one of the big bosses in DC. I had to have a teleconference with him, my managers, and my union attorney. He laid out everything and really made them look stupid. About a week later my request was approved. Shortly after, my FERS disability retirement was approved and I retired out of the federal government. I seriously considered rescinding the FERS disability retirement application since I was finally allowed to telework 5 days a weeks but even with that I was afraid that my health would eventually get worse and I'd still have trouble even teleworking 5 days a week.
Wow.....
My first RA request for a third monitor went pretty smoothly, so, here's to hoping. We're all on max telework anyway per OPM right now and for the foreseeable future. Just to cover my bases, though, I had a cognitive workup done with MH at VA a few weeks ago- a feather to put in my quiver. I talked to my psychiatrist about some stuff and he said that since he was on the pharmacological side of things that it would have to be psych(ology) that had to do it.
FERS retirement for medical reasons- does that still require time in grade, etc? Im not fully competitive, yet- only be 2 yrs in March. Plus, since I've been working successfully (from home) I don't know that I would have an argument for it unless I worked in the office and crashed and burned again- and I don't know if I can go through that again. It was a 7-8 month devolvement until I did FMLA the first time at that job and it was demoralizing to know that in my brain I could *see* the work that needed to be done but its application and my interpersonal relationships didn't work that way when I actually 'did' it. MH issues suck. Chronic pain sucks. Etc etc, yada yada, ad nauseam ad infinitum.
you guys all know the drill, right?
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To my knowledge, no- Long/short. I started at 40% years ago when I discharged in 02. Over the years various parts of me increased or presented themselves and I got up to 80% in around 2012. Somewhere in there I did Voc Rehab, got my bachelors in IT and drove on. In 2013-2014 I crashed and burned physically and mentally and ended up going on FMLA from my job (and eventually terminated). During my FMLA I approached Voc again, and was found 'unemployable' but eligible for independent living. I had other things pending at the time with VA.
VA took my Voc letter into consideration along with other things and in 2017 they found me 100% scheduler. BUT somewhere in there I was TDIU for a period, too, before they just made it scheduler as the final decision. So, my award letter showed that at one point I was IU (I didnt know because they hadn't awarded it or finalized it yet) then something changed their minds and they made it scheduler instead. There was language in the letter that said "from X to Y you were found to be unemployable...... but from Y to Z you are 100% scheduler based on the severity of your disabilities, rendering the IU moot" or something to that effect. All my conditions at that point were considered static as well, so I was P@T also. *shrug*
I spent the next few years feeling useless, then started working at a public library a few days a week for a few hours here and there. In 2020 A VSR positioned opened up locally and I threw my hat in, figuring that w/covid starting that the workforce might shift to remote, at least for a while, and id figure out how to integrate myself (or not) within an office environment again when it came up and see how it affected me. I guessed right.
That was in 2020 and It doesn't look like Ill be in the office anytime soon, plus I have a request for accommodation in status right now for when we do start to integrate back to hopefully be able to retain my full time telework status. I don't now that I could successfully function in a day to day where I had to commute, be around people, deal with partial urinary incontinency (back/nerves), migraines, low days, manic days, etc- at home I can mitigate all that to a degree and not have the added stress and anxiety of coworkers having to see me that way.
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Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet.App. 280 (2008) The provisions of 38 U.S.C. § 1114(s) do not limit a “service-connected disability rated as total” to only a schedular 100-percent rating. A TDIU rating may serve as the “total” service-connected disability, if the TDIU entitlement was solely predicated upon a single disability for the purpose of considering entitlement to SMC at the (s) rate.
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For the purposes of SMC an IU condition can be your 100%, but the conditions that add up to 60% or above cannot be encompassed as part of the IU rating. You can be considered housebound extraschedularly, also, though it is rare.
When you get into an IU condition being the 100% it starts to get convoluted due to Bradley v Peake, though.
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Good luck and gods' speed.
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Can be combined to 60% , or even extra scheduler if you don't meet the percentage thresholds, but its more rare to see.
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If its on his benefit letter that he is 100% rated then its service connected. They don't include non-SC issues on those, and the letter says Service Connected down near the bottom.
Assistance with TDIU form 21-8940
in VA Disability Claims Research
Posted
Have to? No, Ive had one but it was for an increase exam. My initial exam was a pin/poke test with various implements on the tops and bottoms of my feet and my legs in various places where the peripheral nerve paths are. You can look that up and see a picture if you google "radicular nerves back picture"