ptsd Bva Denial (possible Trigger For Ptsd And Mst Veterans)

[JoAnn]

Hi,

I need all of your help with this one.

I am a Viet Nam Vet. I was the first female to be assigned to a combat unit. I was sexually harrased, raped, and tortured by the officers in the unit. Yes, there were a lot of officers because it was an attack helicopter squadron in the Army.

When I got out in '77 I was not told about the VA. In 2003 I found out that I was eligable for benefits. I applied and started geting medical services. My primary sent me to psych. I was diagnosed with PTSD from the sexual tramma and started to understand why I could not keep a job, stay married, or love my sons. I applied for service connection. I was told not to apply by the DAV, have not been given any help with my claim and now the BVA has put the icing on the cake with the words they used in their denial. You see, when I reported the rape it was my CO who had commited the act. Well guess what, my CO is were the report was sent. It never went anywhere so there is not any record anywhere of it happening. I did request to be transfered to another unit and my sister confirmed the change in my behavior. The rating board for the BVA rater chose not to look at that and to ignore the fact that the judge found a connection. Instead I received the following:

:)

"An examiner's diagnosis can be no better than the reported facts. Professional opinions based on inaccurate factual premises have no probative value.

There is evidence which indicates you have not been a consistent historian. Your claim is based on a diagnosis of repressed memories for your events in the military. You report having difficulty remembering your military years but do remember some events with great specificity. The sheer magnitude of events you describe defies logic given the complete absence of one iota of corroborating evidence, i.e., no police reports, no disciplinary actions, no sexually transmitted disease checks, no behavioral changes, no mental health consults, no changes in physical conditioning and no evidence of any of these things for over 30 years subsequent to the reported events. The VA examiner was inclined to accept your report as fact and rendered an opinion based on that assumption."

I submitted records showing that I asked and was given a transfer to another unit. This evidence has never been refered to in anything that I have gotten back.

SO, my question is, how do I get them to look at all of the evidence that I have provided them? I have 30 days to respond to the denial letter that I got. The DVA officer is not anyone that I want to help me because he had never talked to me about my case. He sat in the hearing like a bump on a log. He had never even heard what had happened to me until I told the judge. So please, what should I put in the response to the rating boards opinion?

Thank you

Jo Ann

[Pete53]

JoAnn:

I am sorry that they make it so hard but PTSD is maybe the hardest to get from VARO. Even if you need time to get more evidence you should appeal within the deadline and attempt to put together the ammunition that you need to shore up your claim.

Please consider getting an outside medical opinion to help you. There probably will be a lot more answers but the main thing is that you get started.

Shame on the DAV and Shame on the VARO.

[tssnave]

JoAn,

Welcome to the board - others more experienced than I am will give you some great advice, court cases to cite, and support. We also have several vets who have MST and are knowledgable in how to present those claims. I am sorry that is the nature of your claim but you should find support and help here at hadit. While I am not a lot of help in some areas I am a prayer warrior and unless you tell me otherwise (and I'll try to remember but will ask your forgiveness in advance if I forget) I will prayer for you.

I'm confused on who was the "judge" when you wrote "the judge found a connection" and who was the "examiner" the VA cited when they wrote "The VA examiner was inclined to accept your report as fact and rendered an opinion based on that assumption."

Either way, here's a place to start (I used this on the advice of hadit in my NOD):

Per M21-1MR, Part III, Subpart iv, Chapter 5, “the RSVR may not rely upon his/her own unsubstantiated medical conclusions to reject expert medical evidence”.

Good luck with your claim. Keep us posted and hang in there for the long haul.

TS Snave

[Wings]

Hi,

I need all of your help with this one.

I am a Viet Nam Vet. I was the first female to be assigned to a combat unit. I was sexually harrased, raped, and tortured by the officers in the unit. Yes, there were a lot of officers because it was an attack helicopter squadron in the Army.

When I got out in '77 I was not told about the VA. In 2003 I found out that I was eligable for benefits. I applied and started geting medical services. My primary sent me to psych. I was diagnosed with PTSD from the sexual tramma and started to understand why I could not keep a job, stay married, or love my sons. I applied for service connection. I was told not to apply by the DAV, have not been given any help with my claim and now the BVA has put the icing on the cake with the words they used in their denial. You see, when I reported the rape it was my CO who had commited the act. Well guess what, my CO is were the report was sent. It never went anywhere so there is not any record anywhere of it happening. I did request to be transfered to another unit and my sister confirmed the change in my behavior. The rating board for the BVA rater chose not to look at that and to ignore the fact that the judge found a connection. Instead I received the following:

"An examiner's diagnosis can be no better than the reported facts. Professional opinions based on inaccurate factual premises have no probative value.

There is evidence which indicates you have not been a consistent historian. Your claim is based on a diagnosis of repressed memories for your events in the military. You report having difficulty remembering your military years but do remember some events with great specificity. The sheer magnitude of events you describe defies logic given the complete absence of one iota of corroborating evidence, i.e., no police reports, no disciplinary actions, no sexually transmitted disease checks, no behavioral changes, no mental health consults, no changes in physical conditioning and no evidence of any of these things for over 30 years subsequent to the reported events. The VA examiner was inclined to accept your report as fact and rendered an opinion based on that assumption."

I submitted records showing that I asked and was given a transfer to another unit. This evidence has never been refered to in anything that I have gotten back.

SO, my question is, how do I get them to look at all of the evidence that I have provided them? I have 30 days to respond to the denial letter that I got. The DVA officer is not anyone that I want to help me because he had never talked to me about my case. He sat in the hearing like a bump on a log. He had never even heard what had happened to me until I told the judge. So please, what should I put in the response to the rating boards opinion?

Thank you

Jo Ann

Like Pete suggested, you can appeal the 30 day deadline and ask for an extension of time.

Have you tried "buddy statements"? There could not have been many women assigned to your combat unit, have you tried to contact any of them to cooberate your experiences? Were the other women exposed to the same sexual harassment, rape and torture?

Are you disabled with PTSD; if so, have you applied for a VA Pension? How about Social Security?

Do you suffer from any other service-connected mental disorders: depression, anxiety, eating disorders? Are you currently in treatment for MST/PTSD? Through the VA?

I would be surprised if you were unable to find the women that served with you under fire. These military women are heroes.

Welcome to Hadit.

[Tbird]

jo ann -

ptsd is very hard to prove and ptsd because of mst is even harder, if the report never got recorded it makes it very tough, wings has a lot of good suggestions for you. i also did a search on hadit.com for other posts about mst and you browse through it here mst

this is the dilemma for many mst veterans both men and women who either reported and the report went to the perpetrator or no report was filed. the va claim is harder to prove than say social security, va needs the connection and then requires proof that it happened. i know that folks will chime on idea's to prove your claim.

i know men and women who have walked this road and were successful in finding supporting evidence, but it was tough. if you don't have a therapist who you can talk to i encourage you to try and get one either from the va or your local veterans center, going through the claims process can cause all kinds of triggers and it is good to have a professional to talk with.

tbird

ps i added possible trigger to your subject, so that other mst veterans know before they read your posts, sometimes reading through someone else's trauma can trigger someone else's ptsd.

Hi,

I need all of your help with this one.

I am a Viet Nam Vet. I was the first female to be assigned to a combat unit. I was sexually harrased, raped, and tortured by the officers in the unit. Yes, there were a lot of officers because it was an attack helicopter squadron in the Army.

When I got out in '77 I was not told about the VA. In 2003 I found out that I was eligable for benefits. I applied and started geting medical services. My primary sent me to psych. I was diagnosed with PTSD from the sexual tramma and started to understand why I could not keep a job, stay married, or love my sons. I applied for service connection. I was told not to apply by the DAV, have not been given any help with my claim and now the BVA has put the icing on the cake with the words they used in their denial. You see, when I reported the rape it was my CO who had commited the act. Well guess what, my CO is were the report was sent. It never went anywhere so there is not any record anywhere of it happening. I did request to be transfered to another unit and my sister confirmed the change in my behavior. The rating board for the BVA rater chose not to look at that and to ignore the fact that the judge found a connection. Instead I received the following:

:)

"An examiner's diagnosis can be no better than the reported facts. Professional opinions based on inaccurate factual premises have no probative value.

There is evidence which indicates you have not been a consistent historian. Your claim is based on a diagnosis of repressed memories for your events in the military. You report having difficulty remembering your military years but do remember some events with great specificity. The sheer magnitude of events you describe defies logic given the complete absence of one iota of corroborating evidence, i.e., no police reports, no disciplinary actions, no sexually transmitted disease checks, no behavioral changes, no mental health consults, no changes in physical conditioning and no evidence of any of these things for over 30 years subsequent to the reported events. The VA examiner was inclined to accept your report as fact and rendered an opinion based on that assumption."

I submitted records showing that I asked and was given a transfer to another unit. This evidence has never been refered to in anything that I have gotten back.

SO, my question is, how do I get them to look at all of the evidence that I have provided them? I have 30 days to respond to the denial letter that I got. The DVA officer is not anyone that I want to help me because he had never talked to me about my case. He sat in the hearing like a bump on a log. He had never even heard what had happened to me until I told the judge. So please, what should I put in the response to the rating boards opinion?

Thank you

Jo Ann

[Philip Rogers]

If I understand correctly, you can now go to the CAVC and once you file, many lawyers will contact you to represent you. I can recommend Robert Chisholm, Providence, RI - he's done well for me.

pr

[Meddac]

It seems a little difficult to follow exactly what your are saying...

You wrote: "I was told not to apply by the DAV, have not been given any help with my claim and now the BVA has put the icing on the cake with the words they used in their denial."

and also: "The rating board for the BVA rater chose not to look at that and to ignore the fact that the judge found a connection."

Have you already filed an Appeal? BVA is the Board of Veterans Appeals. If you weren't in Washington for this hearing then it sounds could be a Travel Board Hearing. Either way, you have to already be pretty firmly entrenched in the Appeal process.

You could also have a hearing with the Rating Board, but there will be no judge present.

I may be missing something your saying, and please forgive me if I am. BVA does not have Raters. Ther statement of denial does not look like anything that would come from BVA, COVA, AMC, or Appellate Litigation.

Like I said, I am sorry if I am missing something.