ptsd A Little Warning For All -

[Philip Rogers]

One of my vets called me yesterday. In 1995 he was awarded 100% P&T, for PTSD, retro to '91. Last year called in for Comp exam. Examiner reported vet has improved. Vet fails to rebut report. Recent Comp exam reports still improved. Monday vet receives notice of intent to reduce to 50% compensation level. The VA has followed the 10 yr protection rule, in that it takes 2 exams reporting improvement to reduce a 100% vet. Now vet is in a panic. Watch for more of this as the VA tries to tighten budget. This is from the Spokane, WA, VARO. jmo

pr

Edited June 20, 2007 by Philip Rogers

[Berta]

PS- as CAlnight and others have said here too-

a disability is only current if the disability is treated-

a vet who fails to accept VA treatment or any treatment at all- is walking on shaky ground-

Consistent treatment records to include med records can show that a disability has not improved and even more important ----that you still have the disability.

If a vet gets a PTSD award and then fails to participate in any form of therapy at all- it is more then likely the VA could say that apparently they have improved because it is a lack of medical documentation of any treatment that -to the VA-shows they haven't gotten treatment because they have improved-Whether they have or not.

Edited June 20, 2007 by Berta

[Jay Johnson]

"SO DOES P&T REALLY MEAN NO FURTHER EXAMS. I HAVE POSTED MANY TIMES THAT JUST BECUASE YOU ARE P&T DOES NOT MEAN THE VA WILL CALL YOU BACK FOR ANOTHER EXAM IF THEY FEEL YOU ARE IMPROVING"

As Calnight said this is SO true-

one of my friends was in quite a state because he got a letter for a C & P- he had been 100% P & T with SMC for 11 years. I know the dates exactly as I got him this award.But then his SMC was dropped due to improvement in his cancer-(I think that decision was erroneaous but he didnt want to fight it-

WHat appeared to happen is that-after years of denying PTSD he went to my new rep and the rep got him 50% PTSD.Added with something else SC in VA Math (maybe 40% for GSW)he then got SMC again-It seemed the VA was questioning that award -the PTSD award-to see if he had improved.

I told him to write back to the RO and ask them how a disability(PTSD) due to a severe gun shot wound could possibly improve.A GSW is an obvious lifelong stressor,and his GSW is clearly corroborated from the annuals of Blackhorse and his med records from Hoi An- not only that this vet had TWO GSWs on his DD 214-forget how they say 2 Purple Hearts on the DD 214-I saw his Purple Hearts many times-

it made no sense what they were doing.

In about 3 weeks the VA concured with the vet- no further exams at all.For anything.

But in your example here there was "something" the RO could point to for justifying a C&P with P&T. My guess is that the veteran in question (from the original poster) had done "something" to trigger the inquiry. If not, it is a whole 'nother ball game, because it amounts to a witch hunt....I mean, did the RO just randomly select a P&T PTSD case for review?

I don't want to pass judgement, but even in my wife's case there was "some" reason for them ordering her to a C&P with P&T.....she *was* in the fiduciary program and when we moved out here the fiduciary folks felt that she didn't need to be in the program anymore. This, of course, was the "improvement" they needed to justify reopening her case. So, as wrong as I think it was, they still covered their butts in ordering her into a new C&P with P&T. To just order a P&T vet into a C&P for absolutely NO reason seems to be against the law in my opinion...the regs clearly state that "new" evidence must be brought to light in order to start their witch hunt.

What worries me most about this case is that it *could* be that the RO singled this guy out to test his disability BEFORE the 20 year mark....if that's the case, we need congressional inquiry.

[calnight]

I JUST WANT EVERYONE TO BE READY FOR ANYTHING THE VA THROWS AT YOU. CONTACTING A STATE REP OR SENATOR IF YOU NEED HELP IS A IMPORTANT TOOL. BUT YOU MUST STILL HAVE THE MEDICAL EVIDENCE TO BACK YOUR CLAIM. HAVE IN YOUR MIND THAT MORE THAN LIKLEY SOMEDAY YOU MIGHT GET A LETTER FOR A EXAM. SO YOU CAN BE READY TO GO TO WAR FOR YOUR COMP. WHO DO YOU TRUST MORE THE GOVERMENT OR YOURSELF. BE READY.

[Pete53]

No use getting to excited about possible VA trickery. It really does not happen to often that VA tries to reduce a rating. When it does that is the time to call out the fire wagons.

[recruiterrick]

No use getting to excited about possible VA trickery. It really does not happen to often that VA tries to reduce a rating. When it does that is the time to call out the fire wagons.

thanks for the voice of reason. i've only been coming here for 3 days and boy am i stressing out.

rick

[Jay Johnson]

Breaking congressional law isn't "trickery" in my opinion and it should be taken quite seriously. If you don't, you run the risk of it becoming a standard practice. We don't know the particulars of the case, so it's hard to say exactly what happened here, but if it is a witch hunt (as the OP suggested), then we should all be outraged. I know many folks on here are P&T and if the VA is going to randomly start pulling files for C&Ps we should stop it before it starts.