Backlog?

[Ricky]

Just wanted to complain I guess----- It has now been 14 months since my DRO hearing and still no decision from the VARO!!!! Wow now I call that a backlog!!!!!

My claim was assigned a docket number over 3 years ago cause I had to send in the form 9 well before they gave me the DRO hearing that I had asked for in my original NOD. So the file sat at the VARO with a docket number for 2 years and then low and behold they called me and said "hey we forgot to give you your DRO hearing that you asked for." No joke Henry!

Well the DRO held the hearing and said this is all messed up but you will get a decision soon. I guess 14 months just does not meet the definition of "soon." One would wonder why the BVA has not raised an eye brow since the thing has a docket number that was assigned 3 years ago.

In the past couple of weeks my calls to the new improved high-speed call center have revealed that "a decision was already made in 05" (yep sure was on the original claim!!), to "it is ready to rate", to "the DRO is looking at it now", all the way to "your file was transferred to the BVA in 05 sir and we can not provide you with any information" (the file is still at the VARO and has never gone anywhere).

Backlog or incompentence? Anyone's guess is as good as mine. I think that my name might be to well known at the RO. Since I have a little better financial situation than most that I help, my wife and I regularly take them on the 500 mile round trip for their hearings. Even if we have those 0800 hearings we will foot the bill for a couple of motel 8 rooms just to insure they are there on time. I also appear at the hearings with them cause the vets have a very hard time responding to the idiotic decisions they have been given in their original claims. I used to not attend the hearings but after a couple of them came out crying and telling me what was said and done to them during their hearing I refuse to allow the incompentent SOB's do it to another veteran.

A friend of mine (non-veteran) said to me "you know if those VA people you deal with were a private business they would have been sued, charged in criminal court and out of business by now!" I think that says it all. If only we did have some legal recourse with a bite! hahahahahaha Oh well thanks guys for letting me rant for a while. It seems that these days I do not have much time to sit down and go through my file as I have had tonight. Guess it is a good thing that I don't cause it sure is depressing.

[allan]

Ricky,

I think a Vet has to submit any USC, CFR or M-Manual procedure and current Court of Appeals case sites that applies with their NOD's. It's good to remind them they have laws and regulations they should follow.

[spike]

There is a book by Lexis that is great has the United States Code Special Provision 38 (which is the Law by Congress) and the CFR 38 Which is Code of Federal Regulations. I like it because you can indeed use the law and the regs on the VA.....once they know you know the more that they backoff.....

[spike]

when 78% of VA employees are not handling claims it is no wonder why their is a backlog.

[Ricky]

I do not think this was a process error. Just two dumba$$e$ (rater and DRO) who simply do not understand any thing about medical processes (stokes, the actual process, normally only last a few hours with some continuing on a slow declining mode for a couple of days). So to simply deny such a claim because there is no "active process" during a C&P exam which was conducted 5-6 months after the stroke is criminal. Jez, if the stroke was still in a active process for that long your entire brain would be dead - hell on second thought I guess you would be dead!!!!!!

Although they did fail, I feel, to utilize the medical evidence presented with the case. My neuro is a board certified guy with 35 years in the neuro field and the chief of neuro at a very large hospital here. As a matter of fact it is the UAB hospital who supplies VA treating doctors (not C&P guys) to the Birmingham VAMC. It was pointed out to them several times by me and my doctor and zoom, right over their heads. Although she has diddled with the claim for 14 months now, maybe this new DRO that held the hearing will be smart enough to realize this. She is listed at a senior supervising rating officer at the VARO. Well see if she earned the title or if she is just another dummy in the chain. I thing that what happens is that all incompent VA employees identified through performance evaluations are reassigned to my supporting VARO hahahahahaha.

I did point out the accepted medical opinion of the stroke process to her, an in-depth review of the portion of CFR 38 that covered my claim and the incompentence of both the rater and DRO which had made the prior decisions. The biggest problem that I have with the claim is that CFR 38 provides for a six month rating at 100 percent for service connected strokes. This is due to the fact that the first six months after a stroke is the worst time in the recovery process. You are dealing with the immediate left over residuals and some new ones that develope. Along with this about 78 percent of stroke victims can not return to work, if at all, until about the 7th or 8th month. So this compensation is to assist during this very stressful time.

If I had not had a small retirement fund to cash out I probably would have lost my home, vehicle and every thing else so I find it totally ludicruios that it takes 3+years to get a claim for stroke worked out. If this is being done to other vets at this VARO they may become one of the stats in the VA suicide story. One is exteremly depressed during this period for most can not walk, talk etc...... all at once you become a nobody and are helpless then to lose your home and have your family have to go through the recovery period with you and be thrown out on the street might just be too much for one to handle so incompentence such as this is totally unacceptable!!!!!

Edited May 17, 2008 by Ricky