ptsd Staggered Ratings

[Berta]

I wish I had the time to give a more indepth post explaining staggered ratings-

I believe they are often overlooked by veterans and their vet reps.

For example a vet can have a disability of 10% that eventually is awarded to 70% then TDIU is granted and the medical evidence can in fact show that staggered ratings were in order for the progression of the disability.

This case I posted for the new member with Hodgkins disease is a good example:

http://www.va.gov/vetapp06/files3/0610464.txt

This vet did not get what he wanted-

however this claim- like many many denied BVA decisions contains key legal points that the BVA made in coming to their decision.

It is a long decision but clear shows what staggered ratings are-

I always wondered about my husband's claim.

30% SC to 100% SC- no 50% to 70-% etc-

30 to 100 sure didnt happen overnight.

But the employee shrink who he saw for PTSD (since he was a VA employee -did not document anything and didnt have a clue as to what PTSD really was and as a psychologist could not write prescriptions for any anti -jungle pills)

When I got the posthumous award for 100% and showed it to this shrink he was shocked and said he didnt know Rod was that sick-

of course not- he had no expertise in PTSD at all.

It was the VA PTSD psychiatrist -after COngressional intervention-who fully assessed Rods PTSD as catastrophically disabling at 100% as well as SSA did too.

My point -if the medical evidence shows- by virtue of a jump to a higher rating, that a staggered rating should have been awarded-the veteran should raise this issue in their NOD.

[Philip Rogers]

Could you mean "staged" ratings, where the vet gets 30%, then maybe 50%, then maybe 60%, etc., based on medical history? This is sometimes done on EED's.

pr

[Berta]

Philip- I would think it is almost always done by the VA-and that is exactly what I meant- what you described-

then again I bet there are cases where the VA did not give a staggered rating at all.

One just usually does not medically jump from 10% or 30% to 100%.

It is also one of my causes of concern when a vet gets a DMII rating with the date of the C & P as the EED.

This is just ridiculous.

If a vet suddenly "gets" DMII at a C & P exam they should file a Section 1151 charge.

The reality is the prior medical records could well reveal (I have a vet with claim like this) that the DMII began way before the C & P and thus we challenged successfully the C & P exam date as the EED.He got 8-9 years retro when we did that.

[Pete53]

The VA uses staggered ratings 305 than 50% than 70% to cut off earlier effective rates. The VA says that when I went to 100% I was limited to retro back to the 70% I had received 27 months after I filed my claim so no retro for 27 months is what I got.

[Philip Rogers]

I believe it's called "staged rating," not staggered! A google search for "staged rating" will bring up lots of VA decisions.

As in: Where, as here, the issue involves the assignment of an

initial rating for a disability following the initial

award of service connection for that disability, the

entire history of the disability must be considered and,

if appropriate, staged ratings may be applied. Fenderson

v. West, 12 Vet. App. 119 (1999).

pr

Edited August 6, 2007 by Philip Rogers

[Berta]

Thank you for correcting me Philip!

Big difference between staged and staggered-

I was looking for info lately for a vertigo vet and stagger appears as symptom in some BVA cases-I must have been thinking of him?

this one is what will help the vet:

http://www.va.gov/vetapp06/files3/0615281.txt

he matches the symptoms and effects of 30% criteria for benign positional vertigo and has same DC.

(I sure dont drink- so I really dont know where I got the idea of what you corrected!) Thanks a lot!

[SLEDGE]

My CAVC case is all about how they 'missed the mark' as to when my service connected disability became total.

SSA gave me 1993 and that was the earliest that the judge could go because of the rules and regulations.

My VA claim was filed in 1988, granted total in 2003.

You can see why they are fighting tooth and nail to deny an earlier effective date for T&P.

Now that their lack of medical care has put me into a state of health that prevents me from doing almost all of the fun stuff that I once enjoyed.

Some time within this year I should be able to show everybody what a good court slap to the VA face looks like.

I'm on the docket now.

sledge