Imo Per Dept Of Va

[luvHIM]

After a response from Vike17 on another one of my threads, I decided to do a little research today. He made a statement about me perhaps needing to get an IMO or medical statement from a doctor. Well, it occurred to me that they were obviously two different things.

And, according to Department of Veteran Affairs, they are. In fact, a "legitimate" IMO is is obtained through a specified procedure. What has to be the case is that some VARO's are definitely by the book. What some of us have been describing as an IMO and having rejected may be subject to the aforemention. At any rate, the following is what I discovered today and thought I would share it with you guys here, especially those of you who have the experience of having your "IMO" rejected or ignored.

§ 3.328 lndependent medical opinions.

(a) General. When warranted by the medical complexity or controversy involved in a pending claim, an advisory medical opinion may be obtained from one or more medical experts who are not employees of VA. Opinions shall be obtained from recognized medical schools, universities, clinics or medical institutions with which arrangements for such opinions have been made, and an appropriate official of the institution shall select the individual expert(s) to render an opinion.

(;) Requests. A request for an independent medical opinion in conjunction with a claim pending at the regional office level may be initiated by the office having jurisdiction over the claim, by the claimant, or by his or her duly appointed representative. The request must be submitted in writing and must set forth in detail the reasons why the opinion is necessary. All such requests shall be submitted through the Veterans Service Center Manager of the office having jurisdiction over the claim, and those requests which in the judgment of the Veterans Service Center Manager merit consideration shall be referred to the Compensation and Pension Service for approval.

© Approval. Approval shall be granted only upon a determination by the Compensation and Pension Service that the issue under consideration poses a medical problem of such obscurity or complexity, or has generated such controversy in the medical community at large, as to justify solicitation of an independent medical opinion. When approval has been granted, the Compensation and Pension Service shall obtain the opinion. A determination that an independent medical opinion is not warranted may be contested only as part of an appeal on the merits of the decision rendered on the primary issue by the agency of original jurisdiction.

(d) Notification. The Compensation and Pension Service shall notify the claimant when the request for an independent medical opinion has been approved with regard to his or her claim and shall furnish the claimant with a copy of the opinion when it is received. If, in the judgment of the Secretary, disclosure of the independent medical opinion would be harmful to the physical or mental health of the claimant, disclosure shall be subject to the special procedures set forth in §1.577 of this chapter.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 5109, 5701(B)(1); 5 U.S.C. 552a(f)(3))

[55 FR 18602, May 3, 1990]

[Josephine]

Josephine,


Did you ever hear from them? Can they help?


Free

Free,

I was a little disappointed. One of the Psychologist wrote back and said that they did not administer the MMPI Test or Results.

Another dead -end.

Spoke to The Appeals Management Center and was told that my claim was being rated now. I guess we will have the answer soon.

Thanks,

Josephine

[free_spirit_etc]

I wasn't sure... They have all kinds of second opinion sites that are willing to give you second opinions on cancer -for TREATMENT --but not willing to give an opinion on anything else about the cancer.

So yeah.. they are willing to tell you something in regard to your cancer has been misdiagnosed as ___, or you should do __ treatment instead of ____.

Stuff that can really affect your life...

But as for saying -I think the 3 cm tumor didn't get there overnight... they can't mess with such stuff.

I think though --even though I say it is not litigation --and just needed for the VA -- everyone is afraid that if they state the cancer was present long before it was detected - they might be called in a malpractice suit or something.

Free

Josephine,


Did you ever hear from them? Can they help?


Free

Free,

I was a little disappointed. One of the Psychologist wrote back and said that they did not administer the MMPI Test or Results.

Another dead -end.

Spoke to The Appeals Management Center and was told that my claim was being rated now. I guess we will have the answer soon.

Thanks,

Josephine

[Josephine]

Free,

You hit the nail on the head. No one wants to place their license in jeopardy. Everyone that I have spoke to does not want to go against the VA.

As you said, they are afraid of a malpractice suit or being placed in the middle.

I am sure that the VA knew this when they order those two C&P's within 5 months of each other.

They knew that I woud never find anyone to go against those two Psychiatrist.

The VA thinks that there word is the gospel, but the VA had better watch out, for if I change my medical records it would be called " fraud".

I believe that the same thing applies to them.

I ask Ms Plummer at The Appeals Mangement Center if the rater would be looking at all the information that I sent to them to show them how my medical records were changed and she assured me that they would be.

Whether that will be the case, I would think that I should know very shortly.

I did take a step and fill out all the papers that I need to turn them in to the Commonweath of Virginia Investigation Team for the Board of License.

I hope I don't have to travel this route, but will definitely travel it.

Take care and hope that you can locate your husbands missing exit physical. I feel that someone knew that those papers were necessary for your husbands claim and they may have went to trash can # 13.

This is just my opinion.

Josephine

[shady]

Jay,

It is not a question of rude. I just post my experiences. I was very successfull at prevailing in my claim. In so doing I reversed and had the opinions of three psychiatrists thrown in the trash. The report that trashed the psychiatrists was written by the PHD. For rating purposes the HUGE difference in my claim was made by the PHD. The PHD wrote a much more comprhensive report that was based on better research and a better understanding of the DSM. I think the important thing here is that I was awarded service connection based on the opinion of a Phd who claimed to be a clinical psychologist. Additionally, the psychiatrist was not in the VA loop to even make a diagnosis.

What I explained to you is standard operating proceedure when a veteran walks into a VA hospital and requests a diagnosis for the purpose of service connection. The VA assigns a team that includes a psychiatrist and a psychologist who has a PHD in clinical psychology. The diagnoses were made by the PHD. I was not in a PTSD program. Thus, I do not know who makes the diagnoses in those programs.

You don't have to give me any books. I have read Freud, Erickson Piaget, etc,. Additionally, I got "A"s in all those upper division theory classes. I had no real need to go to a university. My family was making way more money than a college grad by owning and operating printing businesses. However, I studied psychology because I was misdiagnosed while on active duty. Keep in mind that the disease that I am service connected for was called "angioneurotic edma" by psychiatrists for 150 years. It was listed in the DSM I, II, III as a psychiatric condition. After my discharge they changed their minds. And wouldn't you know they did not even tell me. Eventually, the psychiatrists figured out that they had the horse before the cart and dropped the diagnosis from the DSM IV. Angioedema is a medical condition.

I know at least a dozen veterans who are servcice connected for PTSD. Medication has not been the main issue in their claims. The issue in their claims was the symptoms that exsisted untreated for decdades and totally disrupted their lives. I have heard that there was a push by the VA to make PTSD veterans take medication or risk changes to their rating. I am not sure this is still going on. I do not expect that veterans who have had PTSD untreated since the Viet Nam war will be excited to hear about this. The folks I know do not trust the VA or their doctors.

The difference between the training of a PHD and a psychiatrist would have needed to be an issue in my claim before a problem would occur. Medication is not an issue in my claim. Angioedema has no known cure. Unless they cure the angioedema relieving any psychological symptoms would endanger me. The next event of angioedema could kill me. Medications can trigger angioedema. Bruce Lee (Actor) was killed by a similar reaction to medication. I have been in an ER about 20 times. Stress and hypervigelance works for me not against me. My attorney has read the medical reports and advised me not take medication until his doctors have made an assesment.

It has been a long time since I read the M-21. It was my recollection that a PHD who did their post graduate work in clinical can make a diagnosis for VA purposes. If I am wrong please post the VA reg disallowing the opinion of a PHD. The point of this post is whether or not psychiatrists have such a monopoly on the diagnostics that phd's are not allowed in the VA game.

[shady]

Jay,

It is not a question of rude. I just post my experiences. I was very successfull at prevailing in my claim. In so doing I reversed and had the opinions of three psychiatrists thrown in the trash. The report that trashed the psychiatrists was written by the PHD. For rating purposes the HUGE difference in my claim was made by the PHD. The PHD wrote a much more comprhensive report that was based on better research and a better understanding of the DSM. I think the important thing here is that I was awarded service connection based on the opinion of a Phd who claimed to be a clinical psychologist. Additionally, the psychiatrist was not in the VA loop to even make a diagnosis.

What I explained to you is standard operating proceedure when a veteran walks into a VA hospital and requests a diagnosis for the purpose of service connection. The VA assigns a team that includes a psychiatrist and a psychologist who has a PHD in clinical psychology. The diagnoses were made by the PHD. I was not in a PTSD program. Thus, I do not know who makes the diagnoses in those programs.

You don't have to give me any books. I have read Freud, Erickson Piaget, etc,. Additionally, I got "A"s in all those upper division theory classes. I had no real need to go to a university. My family was making way more money than a college grad by owning and operating printing businesses. However, I studied psychology because I was misdiagnosed while on active duty. Keep in mind that the disease that I am service connected for was called "angioneurotic edma" by psychiatrists for 150 years. It was listed in the DSM I, II, III as a psychiatric condition. After my discharge they changed their minds. And wouldn't you know they did not even tell me. Eventually, the psychiatrists figured out that they had the horse before the cart and dropped the diagnosis from the DSM IV. Angioedema is a medical condition.

I know at least a dozen veterans who are servcice connected for PTSD. Medication has not been the main issue in their claims. The issue in their claims was the symptoms that exsisted untreated for decdades and totally disrupted their lives. I have heard that there was a push by the VA to make PTSD veterans take medication or risk changes to their rating. I am not sure this is still going on. I do not expect that veterans who have had PTSD untreated since the Viet Nam war will be excited to hear about this. The folks I know do not trust the VA or their doctors.

The difference between the training of a PHD and a psychiatrist would have needed to be an issue in my claim before a problem would occur. Medication is not an issue in my claim. Angioedema has no known cure. Unless they cure the angioedema relieving any psychological symptoms would endanger me. The next event of angioedema could kill me. Medications can trigger angioedema. Bruce Lee (Actor) was killed by a similar reaction to medication. I have been in an ER about 20 times. Stress and hypervigelance works for me not against me. My attorney has read the medical reports and advised me not take medication until his doctors have made an assesment.

It has been a long time since I read the M-21. It was my recollection that a PHD who did their post graduate work in clinical can make a diagnosis for VA purposes. If I am wrong please post the VA reg disallowing the opinion of a PHD. The point of this post is whether or not psychiatrists have such a monopoly on the diagnostics that phd's are not allowed in the VA game.

hello i am writing because you mentioned angioneurotic edema. i would like to know is this a real sercive connected disability. i have recentley been diagnosed with hereditary angioedema with no body in my family been having the same swelling attacks that i have. i have been told it is angioneu. edema as well. i would really like some feedback if you are willing to talk to me. i feel very alone on this and i am determined to find how i could have aquired this illness.

[Josephine]

Shady,

You may wish to send Hoppy a personal message, as I have not seen him on the site lately.

Hoppy is happy to help you with your claim and to answer your questions.

He has put months of reasearch into my claim

Just click on his Name and His P. M. will come up.

Always,

Josephine