ptsd Deceased Veteran Widows Pay

[banchie]

Hi Brothers & Sisters. My life has improved so much thanks to all of you! A slight tear there, sorry.

;)

One of my brother veterans died with his power of attorney assigned to his wife. He was wounded in Nam in the leg and received disability benefits for leg wounds & PTSD. He died of cancer before I could get him A/O connected (was filing the paperwork on presumption). His rate for leg wounds never increased over his lifetime.

The VA has since cut his wife off from any VA benefits. Is this correct? Here is a women who endured a PTSD veteran, and cared for him dying of cancer in her home. Is she entitled to anything? Pension or VA compensation coupled to power of attorney?

Thanks for your help in advance. Banchie VN 67-68'

[Judy]

Hello to everyone,

I just wanted to add an update to this thread regarding my DIC case.

I got a telephone call yesterday from a person at VARO who said he was "reviewing" my claim.

He first advised me that anything I said would be used in my claim and then we went through a few Q & A's after which he asked if I wanted to "withdraw" my appeal. Some of you...(Berta especially), may recall this very convoluted case is one where the case was reopened Oct 07 and March 08 decision was denial. VARO said they never received IMO (written by Dr. Bash) sent by me and by the AL SO (allegedly). I then resent the IMO (return receipts requested of course) and after doing that TWICE, they acknowledged receipt of it. SO this person calling me points out that my NOD (which WAS filed timely Berta....this was a previous question as to whether they even acknowledged the timely NOD). They had told me that I had "no case pending" which seemed as though they CLOSED the case instead of accepting my NOD... ok. So after that shocker, I had spoken with a person at VARO who said, do this. Write a letter to VARO saying exactly this, "I totally disagree with the decision of VARO March 07 and I hereby request a "reconsideration under normal conditions".....ok, I did just that.

Now comes this NEW person from VARO yesterday and says that BECAUSE I used the phrase "totally disagree with ...." it now AUTOMATICALLY goes into "APPEAL"... so I pointed out WHY I wrote the letter and WHY I used that phraseology (on advice of VARO) and I can't understand why NOW it is causing me more grief and trouble.

So he decides he needs to go and talk to someone in the "appeals department" and call me back.

OK, I say... half hour later, he calls back and says "FAX me a letter stating that you want to withdraw the appeal and proceed with "reconsideration under normal conditions".... I have your IMO from Dr. Bash and that will be used as the new and material evidence with which to "reconsider"...He says that since they are required by law to send me a VCAA (and they had not done so he says) they will NOW (upon receiving my fax) send me the VCAA and I'm to check the box "no new evidence; decide the case on what you have" and then return the VCAA immediately. He says at that time, there is a "mandatory 30 day wait" for the VCAA to "expire" and after that time, the case will go to the review board and they have only 30 days to make their decision and notify me.

SO, I fax the letter, call him back, he says he got it okay and has a bit of good news for me.

He is mailing the VCAA "today" and please send it right back BECUASE once they receive it, there will be NO 30 day wait applied but rather the file will go directly to the review board for a decision to be rendered within 30 days.

Of course he also pointed out the possibility that they would get a MO from their own source and could possibly require more evidence from me as well. Or could be "granted" or could be "denied".

Whew! I got it all out, hope this makes sense Berta.

[Berta]

Congratulations-

The VA never admits to sending out improper VCAA letters-

unless the BVA remands the claim for a legal one.

I raised the problem with my illegal VCAA letter as soons as I got it with my POA-

In a similiar BVA claim the BVA itself remand a widows claims for a better VCAA letter telling the widow to obtain an IMO.

I got 3 IMos to mitigate the VCAA damage but the VA had also failed to send me the election form- this form is Critical-

if the VCAA letter is deficient and they dont send the election form- they will say you never responded to them.

And then they will ignore your medical evidence.

I have 4 vet rep rear ends in a wringer with my state POA because they insisted I got a legal VCAA letter and insisted I received a medical review from VA of my IMOs.

None of this was true and I proved it.

The BVA concurred.

I wish you had some documentation Judy-of all this-

I always ask for email responses from VA-

I suggest that on the election form when you return it- you clearly list the evidence they have received from you.

I did get a real VCAA letter last year on another claim I filed in 2004 and made sure every single piece of evidence I had sent them was listed on it before I signed that they could go ahead and decide the claim.

Judy some wont like to read this here- but I found that in the past 14 years of dealing with the VA- most of my reps tried to treat me like a second class claimant and some of them- who probably go home and kick the dog and scream at the wife and kids- thought I too was willing to be a victim of their anger.

Also they all knew that as spouse of a PTSD vet I sure went through a lot of turmoil dealing with that.

At least 2 of these reps also had their own PTSD demons.

This isnt politically correct-to say-

but a widow of a vet or any female veteran should never be treated with a lack of respect by a POA and they deserve the same respect and claims assistance that male veterans get.

I was written off and laughed at by members of a POA here in NY-(I told one attorney it was a psychological gang bang so I would give up and go away)- and now the tide has turned.

The dopes even documented what they were trying to get me to accept-in emails from NYS computers.Points that have no basis in fact-

I just hope that- if you still have representation, the least the POA can do for you is send the VA a 21-4138 in support of your claim.

This awful shredderagte problem- in my opinion- might well reveal that these ROs had outside help-

POA reps who had claims they too didnt want to pursue-

or claimants who complained their stuff was missing and the POA just turned the other way on hearing that and did nothing to check the C file themselves for the missing evidence.

My initial IMOs (2 at that point) disappeared the very day my POA had a conference with the DRO to get them finally into the record.He took them from the C file and never put them back.I have no documentation whatsoever -in spite of emails and letters from their director-that VA ever saw them in over 4 years of receipt of them.The BVA just concurred with that and I sent the BVA decision to the OGC to support my OGC complaint.

Maybe this is not a male-female thing at all- but I was the only claimant here in NY who took them to task.

If they screwed up veterans claims- (I knew of a few)

the veterans accepted that at some point and got a different POA. That only allowed the problem to continue to occur.

[Judy]

Berta,

"The VA never admits to sending out improper VCAA letters-"

Is this what they are admitting here Berta? If SO then that may be a future CUE? Please comment.

"I suggest that on the election form when you return it- you clearly list the evidence they have received from you."

Yes, I ABSOLUTELY will do so and keep a dated copy for my file...thanks for this suggestion.

"I just hope that- if you still have representation, the least the POA can do for you is send the VA a 21-4138 in support of your claim."

Since it seems that this AL POA is invisible, I'm not sure that I even have any representation...legally, yes, he has POA but has apparently done nothing on assisting with my case. Any suggestions here? I am thinking ....can I file the 21-4138 myself? Do I need to to that OR should I go see this alleged SO and get it done; then perhaps mail it myself?

Judy (no VCAA letter yet....perhaps tomorrow in the mail)

[Berta]

There is no CUE here-

When the VCAA letter comes it will state exactly what evidence they need from you.

When I finally got a real VCAA letter on another claim- I checked last night to see how I handled it-

I submitted the signed election form, listed all of the evidence on it, and I again attached the evidence just in case.

You can print off the 21-4138 yourself and send it but it would duplicate what evidence you are sending in response to the VCAA letter.

The 21-4138 is really something a rep should prepare as it confirms the POA and also shows the VARO you have support from a service org.

The fact that a rep told me -when he read my claim in 2003(they already had my POA for 6 years at that point)-

that my claim would end up at the CAVC (he had no basis for that opinion after a quick read) and the fact that he never sent the RO a 21-4138 and never even told his boss at the RO that they held my POA on this claim-caused most of the 5 1/2 years I have waited for a proper resolve of that claim.

He did this to other claimants too- so they would not pursue their claims and even kicked a vet out- a vet who he asked me to help-because he didnt understand the claim and it was beautiful.I prepared it for him and it was an excellent claim with great evidence.

I dont know what advise to suggest regarding your POA-

In a motion to dump me that my rep filed with the BVA he stated I had gotten outside help and then did everything myself on my claim.

I rebutted that I got NO outside help and had to do their job,after numerous letters to them for their viable assistance.

Sometimes a POA stands in the way of a proper resolve of a claim.

The best thing you can do is comply with what the VCAA letter asks for.

A legal VCAA letter means they actually hjad to read the claim to prepare it.

There should be a highlighted underlined statement as to the evidence they want.

[Judy]

Berta,

I am once again SOooo confused.

I received my "letter" today from VARO. It says in part, " your claim was previously denied as there was no casual relationship found between the veteran's service-connected disability and Arteriosclerotic Heart Disease. Therefore, the evidence you submit must relate to this fact."

[ie; SC disability Lymphoma/Hodgkins and COD death certificate "AHD"]

In continuing it states in part, " WE HAVE RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING:

• Your claim for benefits, which we received on August 21, 2008.
  
• No evidence to support this claim has been received to date.
  

In order to support your claim for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation under 38 U.S.C. 1151, the evidence must show:

The deceased veteran died as a result of undergoing VA hospitalization, medical or surgical treatment, examination, or training.

AND

the death was:

the direct result of VA fault such as carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill, or error in judgment

OR

not a reasonably expected result or conplication of the VA care or treatment

OR

the direct result of participation in a VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment or compensated work therapy program."

THEN comes the VCAA NOTICE RESPONSE which wants me to say per the VA Rep who telephoned me, "I have no other information or evidence to give VA to substantiate my claim. Please decide my claim as soon as possible"

What the daylights are they talking about here Berta? The VA Rep who called me several days ago indicated that I REOPENED this claim October of 2007 (true fact) and that they ARE IN RECEIPT of the IMO from Dr. Bash and it will be used to decide the reopened claim.

Now they say "1151"??? What does that indicate? I thought this was SC DIC claim!

I don't know what to check here, what to say or what to send! I DID NOT file this claim AUGUST 21, 2008.....I did NOT file 1151 claim..... they DO NOT say they have the evidence from Dr. Bash....

HELP! Advice please....Berta; somebody...

thanks,

Judy

PS ...notice in paragraph 1 they use the word "casual" instead of "causal" (relationship to death etc)

[Judy]

Berta,

Would you privately email me at: k5omb@yahoo.com ?

I really would appreciate your assistance.

thanks,

Judy