ptsd C & P Exam Question

[Justme1949]

Here I am back again with another question. Last June when my husband put in his claim it was for PTSD,Hearing loss,Hernia,Thumb injury,Depression. He received a letter from the VA today. This is the first paragraph:

"In order to process your claim for compensation or pension benefits, the Veterans Benefits Administration has requested a current medical examination. We have scheduled this examination for; Tuesday June 5,2007 2:00PM C&P Dr. XXXXXXX I decided to look up Dr. XXXX on the web and found out he is a Cardiovascular/Thoracic Surgeon.This just seems very strange to us since my husband has no claim for heart problems. We thought when he went in for his C&P Exams it would be with doctors who specialize in his various claims. Can anyone tell us if this seems right or should we be questioning this with someone?

Thank You

[Hoppy]

Stranger things are SOP at the VA. You Have made great progress. You actually got a C&P exam and it is with a real doctor. They often schedule C&P exams with nurse practioners. My take is that if this doctor has any questions that he feels are beyond him he would have the option of getting additional workups from specialists. Also consider that in his ignorance he might write a favorable report that a specialist might not be so inclinded to do. Consider allowing him to write his report. Definately do not miss the appointment.

Also consider that a C&P is not always necessary for a rating. The best way to win a claim is to be in a treatment program wherby the VA can use the treatment notes to rate the claim. I think many psych claims are resisted by the VA just because the veteran does not enter treatment and relies soley on C&P exams to advance the claim.

[Hoppy]

One other thing I should have mentioned. They do not need schedule C&P's to address all issues on all injuries. They only schedule exams when they have questions they need answered. They could be ready to make decisions on all but one of the conditions and scheduled the C&P to answer a single question.

[Justme1949]

Hoppy,

Thank you for your reply. So this C&P Exam is covering everything that my husband claim if for...ptsd,hearing loss.......??

We are waiting on a couple IMO's that should come this week. Should my husband bring these to his C&P Exam on June 5? They are notes from the ENT and the his Orthopedic surgeon. Or should he give them to his SO to send in? Or do both?

Thanks again!

[LarryJ]

I'm not Mr Hoppy, but I'll try to help out. Hoppy, please forgive me for jumping in.

The C&P could be for any ONE, or a COMBINATION of, your husband's claims. It could be only for his PTSD, or his hearing loss, or his depression, etc. or it could be for, say, his PTSD and depression, or any other possible combination. They may just want to check his extent of depression, for example (I just finished up with that exam on Thursday, by-the-way).

As far as the Independent Medical Opinions, I would not take them to his C&P (doctors are funny about being confronted with another doctor's "opinion"), and they would not know or want to know, what to do with the paperwork/opinion. Instead, give a copy to your Service Officer AND hand-deliver or send FedEx (I like FedEx, but you can pick one of the other ways of sending something with "proof of delivery), another copy to your VA Regional Office.

Always put the "claim number" on every sheet of paper you send to the Regional Office, ALWAYS.

[Hoppy]

Larry,

Jump in when ever you want. This is a meeting of the minds.

This is a tricky question. Why do you call them IMO's? If they are actually treatment notes I would say bring them if they are not already in the file. The best thing is to show the medical reports to your SO and ask your SO if he thinks they should go to the C&P with you. There might be a requirement that the C&P only read the file. Thus, he won't read anything you bring with you. Yet at the same time I think it would be best if the C&P were based on the entire medical history. Any reports that are not reviewed by an examiner can cause a situation that the rater could use to deny a claim. It happened to me wherby the rater disregarded a doctors report indicating a nexus by saying that the doctor indicating the nexus did not read a report that predated his exam.