Bva Service Connection

[Josephine]

time to free up some space.

Betty

Edited May 16, 2008 by Josephine

[tssnave]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BVA Decision Comments ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Betty,

Thanks again for posting your BVA report. WOW! What an education!!

Interesting that you are a male on page 2 and then they finally get your gender right in later pages! ;-)

Did they not have your civlian medical records from your discharge on when they made the 1992 decision where they stated "such treatment was not indicated until many years thereafter"? I thought they had your med records from your PCP who was treating you for anxiety when they made that decision. Did they not have the records or did they simply not read them or perhaps ignored them because your md is not a shrink?

I'm glad they allowed the new private and VA examiners' opinions and didn't try to say that your IME was cummulative. This at least lends itself to believing that the VA is going to be fair insofar as if they send you for a second C&P exam then they will allow you another IMO.

They should have just awarded you after your positive 2004 C&P exam. I noticed that the BVA was silent regarding the "fishing expedition" (or witch hunt if you prefer) that the VA went on when they ordered another C&P exam just 6 months later where the two quacks (which would outnumber the one good doc who just said yes to service conneciton) stated you had the pd. There is a court case that Berta has posted before that shows the VA is not supposed to do this. It would have heartened me if the BVA would have quoted this case and slapped the VA's hand for ordering another C&P exam so close to the favorable one and extending your claim's true resolution.

I'm glad they listed the statements from your family and the nurse who served with you and could verify that you and Doris were poor swimmers. Of course, I got a kick out of how they laid out the information on page 7 implying that your daughters, who I assume were not born yet, attested to your change in behavior after your discharge! ;-)

What was really interesting to me, and again, this is one of the reasons I thank you for posting your BVA papers, is that while they gave a full paragraph to your private internist MP MD 2004 statement, the guy who's treated you the longest, the VA is silent on his opinion in the final review on pages 11-12.

The way I read it, the medical opinions that they are weighing in your favor are the 2004 (VA) C&P exam and the 2008 (private) IME you had done. I believe this shows that when it comes to mental disorders, it all comes down to the shrinks.

This is especially troubling because so many of us get our primary mental health care treatment and drugs from our family physician, just like you do, but when it comes to the VA, a shrink outranks a PCP. Good to know. Berta and others are right when they say you must get IMO/IME to win your claim. It takes evidence, at least in equipose.

Your BVA letter also clarified something I've read before about how the VA always has the upper hand since they and they alone determine how to weight the evidence. Page 11 states that "Equal weight is not accorded to each piece of evidecne contained in the redord: every item of evidence does not have the same probative value." Very interesting - so, you could have 3 good pieces of evidence supporting your claim that the VA decides is worth 2 pts each for a total of 6 points but they decide that their own negative C&P exam is worth, oh, let's say, 6,264,875,975 points and BAM! you are out of the game. This whole "tie goes to the vet" is bs when the VA is the sole determiner of the value of each piece of evidence.

Also good to know for helping other vets was the info on page 12 stating that the eitology doesn't have to be definite or obvious. I didn't know that little fact. I thought it had to be a pretty straight line. Of course, like your second fishing expedition C&P exam, what the rules are and what the VA does are often two different things.

Again, thank you for posting your BVA review. It has been very educational for me and I hope to use the information to help others.

Thanks,

TS

[tssnave]

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Earliest Effective Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Betty,

Didn't you actually apply for benefits in 1978 way before the VA denied service connection in July 1992? If so, what documentation do you have to prove your 1978 request for disability benefits that we can use in your NOD to request an EED?

Did your 1992 decision denying service connnection state you had applied for benefits earlier? If you've posted the 1992 decision, give me the link and I'll print it off.

I don't see any mention of an earlier than 1992 filing date in your pension decision but I don't have all the pages to it. Again, if you'll post the remaining pages of the pension decision I'll read it for a possible earlier effective date than 1992. This will also help me understand the 1983 unemployability date from the VA since it is not on the pages of the pension decision you posted.

Please post any VA document or personal document you have that shows you submitted a request for VA disability benefifts before 1992 and/or any VA document that references an earlier request for disability benefits.

I know you will be writing your NOD and filling out yout TDIU paperwork soon and all of us will want to have the VA documentation to review so we can help you get the earliest effective date for your back pay and the highest percentage rating possible.

Thanks,

TS

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Earliest Effective Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edited May 16, 2008 by tssnave

[john999]

Betty

What can the VA use in your medical records to say that you are IU due to NSC conditions? If they offered you a NSC pension based solely on your anxiety disorder then that should be your ED. However, if there were other conditions involved that were not SC the VA will play the game that you are unemployable, but not solely due to SC condition. The way you beat them on this is a review by a board certified shrink who will say that based on your symptoms when you were offered the NSC pension your anxiety disorder was enough to totally disable you from work. The VA did this to me when I was granted 70%. They denied IU by saying I was actually totally disabled due to a NSC condition. I got a IMO from a friendly doctor who said that my SC condition alone was enough to totally disable me. Once you get IU you can start to parse out all this BS and get the ED you deserve. They never miss a chance to cheat a vet on Effective Dates. Say you have an appeal that has been in the system for five years. In the fifth year you submit one more piece of evidence and the VA grants your claim. They may make the ED the day they received the piece of evidence you sent in the fifth year saying this tipped the balance in your favor.

Then, of course, if you had not submitted that single piece of evidence you might have lost the appeal. Whatever it takes to try and cheat you out of ED they are willing to do.

[Josephine]

[attachm

ent=1608:pension_page_3.jpg][attachm

ent=1606:pension_page_1.jpg]quote name='tssnave' date='May 16 2008, 08:27 AM' post='91675']

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pension Decision Review - 50% Anxiety ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Betty, have you posted the rest of your Feb 27, 2004 Decision for pension some place else?

Tom, here is all of it.

The reason I ask is that you have stated that they awarded you 50% for anxiety in that Decision but I only have pages 1-3 of the pension decision and they do not break down the percentages for each disorder on the pages you posted here (now, if I've missed a page in the printing, please point that out to me or just post the remaing pages 4-?? of the pension decsion to make it easier for this not so technical old vet).

The lady in South Carolina ask me if I wanted the break down and she gave them to me.

As you can see again, the post medical records again start with 1979.

The VA has post medical records from 1965 - 1979, but have never listed them in any SOC.

Dr. Muller in his C&P does bring this to their attention, but so far no good.

We will need the later pages of the pension decision where the VA awarded you 50% for anxiety to best help you write your NOD so please post the pages of your pension decision beyond the three pages you've already posted.

I need to get my copy of my C-file to get this breakdown.

Thanks,

TS

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pension Decision Review - 50% Anxiety ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edited May 16, 2008 by Josephine

[Josephine]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BVA Decision Comments ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Betty,

Thanks again for posting your BVA report. WOW! What an education!!

A lot of it was a bunch of bull!

Interesting that you are a male on page 2 and then they finally get your gender right in later pages! ;-)

Did they not have your civlian medical records from your discharge on when they made the 1992 decision where they stated "such treatment was not indicated until many years thereafter"?

The VA has had my post medical treatment records from 1965 - 1979 since my first filing date, but refuse to list them.

In the C&P which I posted for all to read, you can see DR. Muller made mention of them also.

I thought they had your med records from your PCP who was treating you for anxiety when they made that decision. Did they not have the records or did they simply not read them or perhaps ignored them because your md is not a shrink?

They had the medical records from 1965- 2003 when they made this decision. They only list the medical records of Dr. Payne.

I'm glad they allowed the new private and VA examiners' opinions and didn't try to say that your IME was cummulative.

I think they were afraid of his credentials.

This at least lends itself to believing that the VA is going to be fair insofar as if they send you for a second C&P exam then they will allow you another IMO.

There is a big cover up here and when I post my decision from the R. O you can spot it.

They should have just awarded you after your positive 2004 C&P exam.

In the end the BVA used Dr. Muller and DR.Crowley and was very silent about those two ignorant fools.

I noticed that the BVA was silent regarding the "fishing expedition" (or witch hunt if you prefer) that the VA went on when they ordered another C&P exam just 6 months later where the two quacks (which would outnumber the one good doc who just said yes to service conneciton) stated you had the pd. There is a court case that Berta has posted before that shows the VA is not supposed to do this. It would have heartened me if the BVA would have quoted this case and slapped the VA's hand for ordering another C&P exam so close to the favorable one and extending your claim's true resolution.

I quoted it to them, but they did not repeat it back.

I'm glad they listed the statements from your family and the nurse who served with you and could verify that you and Doris were poor swimmers.

Strange how the first couselor at the BVA made a big deal out of " Doris" and this one hushed it all up.

Of course, I got a kick out of how they laid out the information on page 7 implying that your daughters, who I assume were not born yet, attested to your change in behavior after your discharge! ;-)

I laughed at that one myself, but my decision from the R. O is even more stupid.

What was really interesting to me, and again, this is one of the reasons I thank you for posting your BVA papers, is that while they gave a full paragraph to your private internist MP MD 2004 statement, the guy who's treated you the longest, the VA is silent on his opinion in the final review on pages 11-12.

This has been a interesting case. Not sure what you call my case.

Was it Cue or Glue?

The way I read it, the medical opinions that they are weighing in your favor are the 2004 (VA) C&P exam and the 2008 (private) IME you had done. I believe this shows that when it comes to mental disorders, it all comes down to the shrinks.

Actually the 2004 is the VA Phd Psychologist and Dr. Crowley, the Forensic Psychiatrist.

They were pretty silent on the two quacks of 2005.

This is especially troubling because so many of us get our primary mental health care treatment and drugs from our family physician, just like you do, but when it comes to the VA, a shrink outranks a PCP. Good to know. Berta and others are right when they say you must get IMO/IME to win your claim. It takes evidence, at least in equipose.

Your BVA letter also clarified something I've read before about how the VA always has the upper hand since they and they alone determine how to weight the evidence. Page 11 states that "Equal weight is not accorded to each piece of evidecne contained in the redord: every item of evidence does not have the same probative value." Very interesting - so, you could have 3 good pieces of evidence supporting your claim that the VA decides is worth 2 pts each for a total of 6 points but they decide that their own negative C&P exam is worth, oh, let's say, 6,264,875,975 points and BAM! you are out of the game. This whole "tie goes to the vet" is bs when the VA is the sole determiner of the value of each piece of evidence.

Also good to know for helping other vets was the info on page 12 stating that the eitology doesn't have to be definite or obvious. I didn't know that little fact.

I have this listed now under the search on Hadit for others to use.

I thought it had to be a pretty straight line. Of course, like your second fishing expedition C&P exam, what the rules are and what the VA does are often two different things.

Again, thank you for posting your BVA review. It has been very educational for me and I hope to use the information to help others.

You are very welcome and thanks for reading it.

BettyThanks,

TS