ptsd Berta And Others Need Your Help

[JohnM]

My Nephew just recieved a letter from DVA dening depression, hip condition and back condition. Next step is Washington they say. Ok when it goes to Washington do you believe that we should go to support his claim. also they have accepte the claim for PTSD due to sexual trauma in service, so would or could we claim depression due to that? In the DVA letter I have yellowed some sentence's out one of them state something that they say was mentioned during his appeal which was never mentioned, I was there with him and that question was never asked. Another talkes about Ofiicial Military personnel files but nothing about medical files. and then they state that the fact remains that he denied chronic low back pain at the time of discharge. He did not have a physical at time of discharge, he just answered a question sheet and becuase he was home on an emergency leave and did not want to go back he answered all the questions NO, if they would look at his medical file they could see that all of those questions where wrong. He had no help and no physical, what does any one think about continuing this?

Thanks for your replies in advance

JohnM's Wife Dianne

[Berta]

He needs to get his SMRs -they can be requested on line at NARA web site.

You said they accepted his PTSD claim- what did they say that showed they did that in the decision?

Did he receive a VCAA letter telling him exactly what he needed to send in as evidence on all of these issues?

Why did the RO raise the BVA at this point?

Was an I-9 attached to the SOC?

"Another talkes about Ofiicial Military personnel files but nothing about medical files."

Were they only referring to his discharge certificate in the denial-

and is there anything in his SMRs that shows back/hip injury?

He might need to obtain a buddy statement if he had an inservice accident that caused the back and hip problems-or the SMRs themselves could reveal this had occurred.

Not much info here yet-

can you tell us more and others will offer help-too

(he was on emergency leave during his outprocessing?)

[Berta]

PS the personnel records could have revealed something that triggered VA to accept his PTSD claim- I dont quite understand what the VA means though-

MST claims or PTSD claims due to MST -I should say

require proof of the circumstances.

This can be documentation of medical care after this happened, psychological care, any "outcrys"- meaning letters home or eye witness accounts of what happened as told to someone right after the MST happened.

Buddy letters involving MST should be detailed as to the date and manner in which the MST incident was told to them (or emailed or by phone)

Of course documentation in the record is the best evidence and any police reports or documented attempts to get the matter acknowledged by COs etc-

[JohnM]

His medical problems is very lenghtly so it is hard to write it all down for everyone but to answer some of your questions. When he enlisted he wrote down that he had chronic sinus problems. Also let me say that he enlisted in the navy. while in service he injured his back, several times he was either on light duty or in the hospital. While on the ship he was a boiler tech. he broke out with uticaria. At one point he was so bad they had to med flight him to another ship and they did not no if he was going to live or die. after a time they sent him back to the ship doing the same thing. He continued to break out with the unticaria and he was then called elephant man by the other men. He was then sexually assaulted by two men he reported it and it is all written down it is also written down what his buddy told the officer. this is all doucmented. after the sexual assault he started drinking and drinking heavly. They never took these two men off ship and he had to work with these two men. He was scared for his life. because of his drinking the officer said he was an acholic and was punishing him for it. he was also involved in a car accident while drinking which he was not driving. they never looked into why he was drinking . this was a 19 year old boy who came from a state and town

where none of this occured or was talked about. Again he had several other medical problems. when he came home the VA would only treat him for his uticaria and nothing else. ( That has now changed) he tried to work but could never hold down a job long enough to get insurance. So he never was seen by a doctor for his back problems. While on two jobs his back started to bother hime and they sent him to the doctor. VA is saying that because he never seen a doctor except for when work sent him and that a discharge he never complained about his back they are saying that he is not service related. Again he was sent home on emergency leave just before his discharge, so they never gave him a physical, all they gave him was the questionery sheet to fill out and because he did not want to go back he answered no to all the questions. He was afraid he would be charged or punished and he had enough of that. By the way his service officer had told him not to say any thing about the sexuall assault or he could be killed. It took many years for his phyc doctor to get this out in the open. He his now 40 some years old and not working at this time he is only getting $115 from VA and that is what he lives on. Now VA pays for his appartment but he pays for Electriciy and heat and phone. That leaves him with nothing. His Mother buys him food and what ever else he needs. Now with all the medicine he is on he has more medical problems and his phy doctor told me yesterday that No he can not work and that he is P&T. At this time we are fighting VA for his back and secondary hip problems they keep dening him for this. I am sorry for this being so long, there is more to add but I think that you can get the jest of this problem. Oh and by the way there are medical records that are not recived such as the one that he was med flighted off the ship. But again they are not talking about medical records just his personnel file and in just reading that and with all the punishment that the service officer gave him I believe that they are dening him every thing because of that. Although they did concede that he did hurt his back while in service.

Thanks Again

JohnM's wife Dianne

[Jay Johnson]

I would consider hiring a lawyer at this point. It sounds as if you have a VERY strong case and the VA is just bullying your nephew out of, what will be, a VERY large sum of money. If he reported the MST, and there is record of it, it should be SC and if what you say about his medical record is true they would have to approve the back issues as well.

The key to your case is gathering ALL of the medical evidence you can, coupled with any buddy statement or other lay statements, and presenting them in a professional manner in which the VA cannot refuse. It is possible for you to do this yourself, but a lawyer, if there are any knowledgable about VA matters at this point, may help. For the time being, just start gathering every shred of evidence you can and continue to fight the claim....it sounds very strong to me.

Edited August 1, 2007 by Jay Johnson