ptsd Ptsd

[Johnny K.]

I saw a "contract" Psychiatrist at VAMC C&P hearing for a non-combat PTSD Claim. He denied service connection but conceded my PTSD.

I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman attached to the 3rd MARDIV during Vietnam and was an Emergency Medical Technician at USMC Base, Camp Pendleton, after rotating home, for a period of about two years. VA has accepted my stressors but has denied my claim.

I just received notification for a DRO hearing on September, 12, 2007.

I have a representative from American Legion who is helping me and will accompany me to hearings.

I have four private Doctor opinions and one VA Staff Psychiatrist opinion which support my claim, and I attend VA group meetings twice a month for PTSD.

Please give me your opinions on what I can expect at the hearingand what else I can provide the DRO besides all of the records which I mentioned above.

Thanks, and Welcome Home!

[Johnny K.]

Hi Berta,

Sorry I am so late responding to you! I was visiting with my step son and his wife.

In answer to your questions about my service during the Vietnam war, I was assigned to the Third MARDIV in Okinawa from 1973 through 1975. I served as a platoon corpsman with Hotel Co 2/9, and Hotel Co 2/4 and spent some time also at the Battalion Aid Station of 2/4.

Operation Eagle Pull was the evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and occurred two weeks before the fall of Saigon and the evacuation of our embassy in April, 1975.

I rotated back to Camp Pendleton and was assigned to First MARDIV, BAS 2/5, and then sent TAD to the Naval Regional Medical Center as an E.M.T. at a branch dispensary at San Onofre area on the NW of the base. I am going to answer your questions one-by-one:

I am astonished that the VA has not awarded you yet with the evidence you mentioned.

So am I!

Do they have all of that evidence?

My Rep from the Florida State Dept of Vet Affairs/ American Legion says that VA has all of my recorded evidence, but I have not seen their file yet. Am I allowed to request a copy? How?

Did they ever refer to it yet in any Statement of the Case?

They referred only to my stressors during the period of Vietnam service but none of the major stressors from my stateside service as an E.M.T. after or an I.C.U. corpsman before overseas deployment.

Have they attempted to rebutt those IMos with any VAola quackola medical opinions? Not really.

The contract shrink (fee for service) who did my C&P eval only stated that he could not see the evidence of any hyper-vigilance or exagerated startle response. He did "concede" chronic depression related to my service, but could not diagnose me with PTSD. I do not believe he referred to my IMO's reports, and letters.

I would certainly bring all of the above opinions to the DRO hearing and make sure they are fully considered-

and are made part of the record----

My Rep at a DRO hearing- claimed he highlighted my IMOs -but the DRO record shows this never happened and that VA did not even have any IMos from me.

I have a stack of records three inches deep and if my representative would return my phone messages I could start getting organized for the DRO hearing in September. I get worse symptoms as I dig through all the records and I hate to do the research that I have to do to prove my claim. Why does the VA make us keep paying the price for these horrors over and over?

I hope the AL will sure show up for the hearing.

She promised she would.

When the VA has enough medical evidence to make an award -they should award-

they should NOT do any doctor shopping to try to find a VA opinion against your claim.

That is what my doctors counselors and PTSD group members keep telling me , but the counselor at the Florida "VET Center" also said that the psychiatrist at my C&P exam is recommending denials of all of her clients who have seen him for their evaluations.

When MY rep called me before the DRO conference (it wasnt really a hearing)

he said he was sure he would walk in with my IMos and walk out with an award.

I dont know what he walked in with- my IMOs disappeared from that point for over 2 years-in spite of being re-sent by me many times-and he never gave them to the DRO.

That is terrible. I have copies that I will take to the conference with me.

I will look for the regs and post them here-

that show that VA -with enough medical information to award (regardless of where it comes from-claimant or VA )is supposed to award.

You have a preponderance of evidence -

actually it is really too late for VA to doc shop-

I agree.

I sure hope the AL knows the regs in and out on this one.

So do I and now I have five weeks to prepare.

Thank you for supporting us all with good advise and your experience.

I just finished reading a book by Lewis B. Piller, Jr. titled "Fortunate Son". I wish he were here to see how our young veterans are being treated.

Doc Johnny K.

[john999]

Johnny K

That doctor at the VA who saw you seemed to be talking about symptoms of someone with acute combat fatigue and not chronic PTSD. You need to keep fighting this claim and listen to what you have been told here at Hadit. Persistence is key and I don't see how you were denied either but all the T's have to be crossed with these PTSD claims. The stressors are the main problem that trips vets up and not the actual disease. I can't see how a field medic in a combat zone would not be under great stress and how they might not experience guilt and mental pain. Some non-vets think PTSD is an easy claim to prove and it is not as you can see. Regardless, of how the DRO decides don't give up and try to keep it local. Do you have the combat medic badge?

[Johnny K.]

Thanks John.

The fee-for service psychiatrist at my C&P gave me about ten minutes of his time and threw out all the prior evidence, or maybe never read my (3) private doctor's diagnoses, before his exam. It seems that even though I have all my stressors documented,

I can lead the VA to my documentation but I can't make them read...

I do not have the combat medic badge, but in the Navy the Corpsmen assigned to Marine Combat Units wear a Fleet Marine Force badge, and I have that.

I sure do appreciate Hadit, with the encouragement I receive from other VETs and their family members, I'll see this thing through to the end.

Doc Johnny K.

[Berta]

I did an essay on Lewis for one of my USMC essays at AMU-not long ago- what a book and what a life-

Chesty- his father- a legend as the meanest and greenist-was absolutely a docile sweet cupcake around his kids and wife.

But he did expose Lewis to the Firing range at Pendleton I think when Lewis was a small boy-

I consider both of these veterans to be leaders of utmost quality-Lewis sure suffered from PTSD and his war wounds- and Chesty-

I think he was in that generation that completely shelved their war emotions-

and I also think it caused Chesty to have that stroke that made the Corps get rid of him before his time.He certainly suffered from depression and the VA had not "invented" PTSD yet.

Battle fatigue, soldier's heart, and whatever they called it then plagued Audie Murphy and countless other heroes of our nations wars .

It is a shame that these vets did not receive good treatment for it-

I actually believe that VA excels in PTSD treatment these days- no cure for it but it can be bearable- sometimes-

I am thinking that you should add the depression component to the claim for PTSD-

since they conceded that-dont know what the AL would think-about that-

but this too can be raised at the DRO hearing.

If the evidence lends more to depression instead of PTSD -and the affect to you is the same- the SC comp amount will be the same-

Did you get a legal VCAA letter and did it tell you exactly what evidence you needed?

Seems to me you did and do have what you need-

The DRO hearing should be taped and you could ask for copy of it- also

you can write to the VARO, Records access officer -and ask for one free and complete copy of your c file- takes a few weeks- or more for that to arrive-or-if you are close enough you can make an appoinment there to see your c file-

I got copy of mine- if I went there It would be too confusing for me to really look it all over-and I would have flashbacks due to my PTSD from the VA from my last claim ordeal. VA gave me PMS too. Pissin and moaning syndrome-

Sometimes I think it is just better to get the c file copy by mail and you have what you need and can take time to go over it better.

PS Vike is absolutely correct- a psychiatrist trumps a psychologist-

also did these IMOs fully conform to the IMO criteria?Did they also state the nexus statement clearly as to 'more than likely or as likely as not"?

I posted it under Getting an IMO under the search feature at the top of the page-

this isnt in the regs- I made it up based on studying what the BVA accepted and what they rejected in IMOs that vets got.

Edited August 5, 2007 by Berta

[Johnny K.]

Berta,

I guess the good news for me the is that my regular Psychiatrist at the VA has concurred with the psychologists that I have PTSD and he put me in the Stress Treatment Program at VAMC.

I guess I will need to take a copy of his notes with me to the DRO Conference/hearing?

Doc Johnny K.

[RockyA1911]

Were you awarded the Combat Action Ribbon for the Cambodia operation? I too was in Okinawa during 1974 and 1975 and went aboard the USS Blueridge and participated in the evacuation of Vietnamese in I believe it was very late Feb or or May of 75.....hard to remember the dates.

I did serve in Vietnam from April 1968 to May 1969 and was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon (CAR) when it was first authorized later.

This all seems like a bunch of nonsense they are pulling on you to me. I know what a Field Med Corpsman does be it CONUS or OCONUS. It is appalling they could even think of denying you PTSD.

Of course I am still fighting with them because they combined my PTSD rating with a previous Left Temporal Lobe contusion, chronic due to Brain Trauma when they both should have been separate. They called both of them the same, mental disorders when the left temporal lobe is physical injury causing permanent physical damage with encephalopathy.

Anyway, I would make appointments with my Congressman and Senator and demand this horse hockey be turned around.

If a Corpsman doesn't have PTSD then there was never a John Wayne!

I see you were assigned to "The Magnificent Bastards" I was with Echo 2/4, I might know you.

RockyA1911

USMC Feb 1966 - Nov 1976

Edited August 6, 2007 by RockyA1911