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'

[Berta]

What differnece does it make WHAT it says-

It seems you have a direct SC death claim filed and also a Section 1151 claim filed-and that the VARO has asked you for evidence to support both of them-

Verify with the VA and your rep if this is the fact- and then send them the evidence -as I already stated along with the VCAA election forms-

as it appears they have never recived the IMO from Dr. Bash.That is new and material evidence-

Also send them whatever else I suggested and make sure that you cite some VA regs and case law like 38 CFR 4.6,

and also send them some medical abstracts or information that supports each claim and cite Wallin V West, Timberlake V Gober, and Brockenhouse V Nicholson and ask them to consider both your IMO and you lay medical evidence.

You are not eligible for accrued benetifs- it seems your EED on the re-opened Section 1151 is not that long ago- and the direct SC re opened claim EED is August 2008.

But I am not even sure of that-

you are concerned about tangential stuff that doesnt matter-

You should have a DIC for direct SC death filed as well as the Section 1151 claim.

Use the IMos from Dr. BAsh to support each separate claim.

"I am wondering if I'm getting close to the place where I need to hire an attorney."

If your NODs for either claim was filed after June 20,2007 you can hire an attorney for the claim that the NOD was filed on.

The attorney will need the same evidence, the SMRs and the C file and medical record that VA has.

You have lost any potential of accrued benefits and the most favorable EED dates for these claims -as it is.

Send the VA the VCAA response and make sure they have the evidence for both claims- send it to them with a cover letter stating exactly which claim it is for.

Discuss it with your rep first to see what they suggest as well.

"Do you think that I have an 1151 claim open WITH a separate claim for SC DIC? IF SO, they have not responded to both claims but rather it "looks like" that in all their SOC's and communications to me they have jumped back and forth between the two and never followed through consistently on either one. Hmmmm, thats a very provocative thought at this point."

Provocative or not-

it looks to me that neither one of these claims has been properly followed through on by you.

Send them the Evidence.Make sure you state on the VCAA response that you are again enclosing it.

[Berta]

"What differnece does it make WHAT it says-" to clarify this- I had read what you said about the 1990 old BVA decision-

what matters is that VCAA letter you have now and the time is ticking-for a response to the election form-

The VA already closed the SC claim in March 2008 and you managed to get it re-opened-but they need more evidence-

Any DIC comp they might owe you goes back to the re-opened dates for either claim they award-only a few monthly checks at this point.

Men and women you can see how exasperated I am here to see thousands of posts on this issue and yet this widow is no further ahead today than she was when she came here to hadit in 2007.

Maybe it is just me and I need a break.

When claims become tangential and intricate stories of what the VA said in past decision-or what this rep or that rep did or didnt do-

it only starts to piss away the time a claimant should be taking to fully support their claims with evidence.

I sure commend those of you here who get it-

you are the ones who took the bull by the horns and fully supported your claims consistently over the years with evidence and with legal arguments- you all know who you are- you have awards letters to support what I mean.

Whether you had POA problems or not and got ridiculous denials from VA or not-

you did not get into a long argumentive rendition about this or that and you still stayed on focus to get the awards letters you deserved.

Of course I am guilty because I have been griped for years about my POA and illegal VCAA letter but certainly continued to support my present claims with evidence and have won all of my past claims.I am fully confident that once my evidence is actually read -I will get an award letter.

I have a limited amount of time as it is to even be at hadit.

I dont do any hand holding and I hate to keep repeating myself.

Evidence is everything-

it is the only thing that matters-

Past BVA and VARO denials can be considered in a new light for CUE potentials once a successful claim is resolved.

POA problems can be fixed by the claimant in many ways.

If VA ignored your evidence and never even listed it on the SOC- this gives you the power today-in light of shreddergate-to force them into a better decision-

I wonder how many thousands of veterans got a denial, and their evidence was never considered -and/or was lost or destroyed-

and they walked away and never appealed.

[Judy]

I haven't posted on hadit since back in October as I needed to calm down.

I was both disappointed and hurt by the last post here from Berta as it was clearly and bluntly insinuating that I had not "taken the bull by the horns" and worked hard to support my own claim but rather had not responded timely, pissed away the time and etc etc.

Not all of us are as knowledgeable and perhaps even not as smart as Berta when it comes to this VA stuff. I for one, am not. Nor did I pretend to be when I came to hadit.

I did not mean to ramble on meaninglessly about what the VA said, what the past denials were saying, what they wrote, what Bash did or didn't do, what my SRO did or did not do or say and so on and so on and so on. Being that I am not knowledgable, I was looking at "details", all of the details which I believed from all who post here, to be so very very important.

I will not bore you with any more rhetoric but I will say that they (VARO) tell me that my IMO is now included in my claim which has now been referred to "upper management" as opposed to "the board" and I'm not sure what that means but the 30 day time frame for them to make yet another decision has begun to count down (so they tell me).

I will post (for the benefit of others trying to win claims such as mine, and for those who are not totally educated about fighting this battle alone) the decision which I should receive by the end of December.....once again.

Thanks to all,

Judy (veteran deceased; widow denied---18 years now)

God bless each and every one of you who are weary from this road so heavily traveled....may each one win his/her fight.

[Berta]

I regret that my post hurt you Judy-and I apologise for that.

I see this claim as potentially being awarded two dfferent ways-

but of course the VA will only award under one way-

I feel that the accutane medication contributed to the AHD-listed as COD (cause of death) on your husband's death certificate and if prescribed for a direct SC condition-this should award DIC-

Or the VA can consider this claim as a claim under Section 1151- and in that way -they could award DIC under that basis-

but I base this on what I have read on the net as to this medication and it's long term affects.

I was under the impression from a past post that the rep you had didnt send in the IMO- and then he did-

when you questioned him on it-

It is really up to us as claimants to make sure the VA gets our stuff-

if the VA gets duplicates they are supposed to send them back to us-

The IMO they have , which I assume is a strong and favorable one-can be used to support both the direct SC death claim and the 1151 claim.

A vet or widow can raise as many scenarios as they want to obtain service connection.

[Judy]

Berta,

Your apology is accepted and I thank you for that kindness.

Either the SO never sent the IMO or the VARO just denied ever receiving it. I don't know which, I don't care which. Finally the VARO acknowledged receipt of it after I sent it three times (return receipts in hand) and thats that.

I finally received a phone call from VARO rep saying he had the IMO in the file; he sent me the VCAA and I responded within 2 days. He now says this file is so old, so convoluted and confusing that it has gone into the hands of "upper management" (I have no idea what that means) instead of the normal "review board" to be "reconsidered under normal conditions"...now he tells me they have only 30 days to issue their decision.

I am waiting. I will post the decision when I receive it (should be before the end of December) to update all who battle here for their cases.

Life has been hard for me without my spouse for the last 18 years, fighting this battle is only one small part of my life. I know others here have had it much rougher than I and I pray that all of you will perservere and come out winners of all that you deserve and which is wrongfully being withheld from you.

God bless,

Judy

[Judy]

Small interim update:

December 22, I receive an IRIS reply stating "rightnow we are in the development stage of your claim where we obtain information and gather evidence to substantiate your claim."...."Once your claim leaves the development stage it will then go to the rating board where we review your file and make a decision on service connection and disability percentages. We are unable to give you a timeline when they will review your file as we donot know their caseload. After a rating has been established, your file will go to the authorization department for verification and review. The claims process can be lengthy due to the many processes and the time we must allow for information to be sent to us from you or obtained by us on your behalf from outside sources."...

"If you are granted benefits you will be paid retroactively from the date of your claim. "....

Gee, I received an unexpected telephone call from VARO Rep (claims file in hand) late October 2008 who said "I am mailing you the required VCAA Response letter today and you should return it asap, HOWEVER, your claim is ALREADY in review and due to the age and convoluted condition of this claim, it is going directly into the hands of upper management as opposed to the normal review committe. Normally, upon receipt of the claimant's VCAA Response letter, there is a 30 day waiting period (to allow claimant to file any additional evidence he/she may have) HOWEVER, I have been told by my supervisor and the supervisor in THAT department, that your VCAA Response letter will simply be "added" to the file as it is ALREADY in review by management and THEREFORE, VARO will issue a decision no later than 30 days from receipt of your VCAA Response letter."....

I have the signed receipt via USPS where they received my VCAA REsponse letter on NOVEMBER 3, 2008 and now comes December 21st, and I IRIS them. The reply is stated above...

Two days later on December 23, I receive letter in the mail dated December 19th which states:

" We are still processing your application for COMPENSATION. We apologize for the delay. You will be notified upon completion of processing. "....

How long do they ACTUALLY have and what is the reg for their time constraint? I thought they only had 30 days... where did I get that mistaken idea?

Merry Christmas to all hadit members, God bless each of you and may 2009 see many of you WINNING your long fought battle with the VA.

Judy (widow of 100% Permanently disabled vet-deceased.....18 yrs and waiting)