Sp5kelley's Comments

[Berta]

email from SP5 Kelley:

"IOM reports VA Disparities at Disability Commission

Hi to all,

Bravo for the Institute of Medicine - Bravo!! – Bravo!! - Bravo!!

http://www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/C...IOMVA.htm"

A very important read at above link-

(and the link to the home page of this EXCELLENT veterans site is http://www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/)

[Pete53]

Link does not work but I wondered if this is as good as it seems. Could be a back door to mess with what we have.

[Berta]

http://www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/

I dont know where the comments are-

I copied the link from my email and it worked that way- but guess the email link wont work here-

So Here it all is- Charles's comments are tongue in cheek------as I hope all realised when they read the Bravo stuff-----

He is an excellent veteran's advocate.

Bravo for the Institute of Medicine - Bravo!! – Bravo!! - Bravo!!

Credit is given when it is due and from what I have heard at the Disability Meeting yesterday, IOM and scientists have given the Disability Commissioners a number of VA disparities.

IOM is for not only the physical disabilities but also loss of earnings as well as loss of quality of life. (I am not real clear on this yet.) (More later, as I find out some more in-depth data.)

IOM indicates VA rating system is broken.

IOM indicates VA medical codes are out of touch.

Rating folks do not have enough knowledge to even ask the right questions of the medical experts – even if they are available.

More controls on Comp and Pen in not only new info but also oversight of such activities are required.

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Most of this we had concluded long ago based on our experiences with VA and VA ratings and their made up processes and procedures.

It will be interesting to see if the “VA presumptive disorders” next month will receive the same scrutiny by IOM. I plan on being there for that one.

It will also be interesting to follow to see if the IOM has more control over the VA than our congress. Congress has mandated issues in the past and VA just thumbs its omnipotent nose at Congress.

More to the specific issue ---- If VA follows the IOM recommendation, in part anyway. Will they seize the opportunity to make it tougher on Veterans and widows as they did when the courts ruled in favor of the Veterans? Which VA promptly went out, ignored, and made their rules.

I think the next six months is going to be very interesting for Veterans in mortality and morbidity as well as for the widows in disability and disability ratings, as well as presumptive disorders. Especially with the finally admitted to flaws in the Ranch Hand Study which makes any presumptive decisions based on that, Once upon a time in a Magic Collaborative Kingdom Study totally spurious.

Also we need to follow congress's actions to see if they are more than just words, as they have been in the past !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NAS/IOM has stated in the past on these presumptive disorders that while they reviewed other studies they mainly took the data from the Ranch Hand.

We now know the World’s Gold Standard Study was nothing but a 146 million dollar, 25 year, Pot Metal Government Exoneration Study.

Lets hope for some justice and accountability, which is all we have ever asked.

Kelley

[Ricky]

Berta this ideal sounds good to me also. However, it makes me worry for I see the VA using this to decrease ratings. Lets face it we are no longer factory workers so physical disabilities seem to fit more into the work enviornment today. I see VA taking a veteran who is a carpenter with a physical disability that provides him with I/U and retraining him. At this point I forsee them then reducing his I/U, putting him in the job market based upon his new training and saying we have done our job. This would allow them to give him a 10 percent rating for his physical disability cause it no longer affects his ability to work, and a 10 percent rating for the effect on his social life. Even if he could not find employment they would simply say hey we have retrained you, given you a rating for the effect on your economical ability and 10 percent for the effect on your social environment - if you can not get a job sorry charlie we did what we were supposed to do.

I think I understand what the IOM is doing but the disability commission and the VA are Satan and his demon buddies all rolled up into one and will attempt to use this recommendationto their advantage.

The bottom line is THIS COULD BACK FIRE ON THE VETERAN COMMUNITY!!!! Just my opinion