Board Issue Full Grant Of Service Connection 2004

[emily]

It has been a long, I have been trying to settel this dispute on my own. I don't know if any of you remember me. I didn't have a computor for over a year! On June 21, 2004, the BOARD issued me a full grant of "Service connection for cause of Vetern's death and Entitlement to educational assistance benefits under Chapter 35, Title 38. On August 11,2004, a letter from the VARO Pittsburgh states, "We made a decision on your claim for DIC". (WHAT DID WE DECIDE? WE GRANTED SERVICE CONNECTED DEATH BENEFITS, CALLED DIC, effective May 12, 1993. We granted entitlement to Dependents' educational assistance (chapter 35) effective December 3, 1981), Entitlement start date was June 1, 1993. My daughter turned 18, October, 1993, all the forms were filed for college, they overlooked that and stopped her benefits in four months. I filed for an audit. After a hearing and a few SOS the last was a 29 page, ending with "your claim has been reviewed by the Decision Review Officer under the 'de novo' review procedures"! (DECISION: An effective dat of a grant of service connected death benefits prior to June 1, 1993 is denied!)The ADJUDICATIVE ACTION:from 01-28-1992 through o6-21-2004 were decided by the BOARD on June 21,2004. When the Board makes a decision to grant the benefits, the Board's decision is final. The VARO sent the file back to the Board Nov.,2006, with a hearing March 2007 in Washington D.C. I had no new evedence. Four of my five children attended. In the INTRODUCTION:(This case comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals on appeal from a July 2004 rating decision by the which the RO granted service connection for the cause of the veteran's death of July 2004! The Acting Veterans Law Judge,C. Kedem. The transcript from the March 2007 Board decision was the ONLY evidence used. The July 2007, DOCKET NO. 05-23 434, DOCKET NO. 97-20 067, June 21,2004. The VARO Pittsburgh claims I did not file for VA Benefits untill June 93, A letter from the VA dated Feb. 26, 1982, states "The evidence does not show that the veteran's death was due to a service connected condition". Not only did I meet with a Veteran's Benefits Counclor,with-in a month after my husbands death, my brother took me there!They say that is when I applied for death benefits, $150.00. The funeral director filed the form. At the time of death I was 42 years old with school aged children, that made us elegable for Social Security. Title 38, part IV, chapter 51, subchapter I--CLAIMS, sec 5105 ( When an applcation on such a form is filed with either the Secretary or the Commissioner of Sociial Security, it shall be deemed to be an application for benefits under both chapter 13 of this title and title II of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.)Title 38 USC Sec. 5110--(3)(A)The effective date of an award of disability pension to a veteran described in subparagraph (:) of this paragraph shall be the date of application or the date on which the veteran became permanently and totally disabled, if the veteran applies for a retroactive award within one year from such date, whichever is to the advantage of the veteran. If the application cannot be located, the Social Security Administration should indicate thhe following, if possible:(1)on what date the appellant submitted her claim for benefits; (ii) what kind of benefits the appellant was seeking; and (iii) what type of death benefits were granted to the appellant.Aservice conneected disability may be a contributory cause of death if it affected a vital organ and was of itself of a progressive or debilitating nature and was of such severity as to have a material influence in accelerating death. 38 C.F.F.R. 3.312©(4) (1998). The BOARD's June 21,2004, full grant of benefits, findings of fact; (4) The veterans death from congestive heart failure is etiologically related to the inservice diagnosis of syphilis.(5) Syphilis caused or contributed substantially or materially to death. (6) The veteran's death is service-connected. The file is now with The Court. I did contact 4 attorney's, after they read the July 2007 Board appeal, they say,we can't help you. I don't know what to do!

[Pete53]

Emily:

The VA often overlooks information that is in the C File. You probably need to review the C File as soon as you can.

[Berta]

The BVA described that 1982 letter thus:

The appellant also points to a February 26, 1982 letter from

the RO indicating that "the evidence does not show that the

veteran's death was due to a service-connected condition."

"However, this letter was in response to the appellant's prior

claim for burial benefits. As detailed above, she did not

indicate that she wanted service connection for the cause of

the veteran's death at that time. So there was no "claim,"

informal or formal, which resulted in the February 1982

statement from the RO concerning cause of cause"

The BVA probably considered as well- that if a formal claim for service connection had been filed in 1982- why didnt you aggressively continue to follow up on it until 11 years had passed?

I filed a DIC myself in 1982- with the VVA-

they wanted to fight for SC death but I was overwhelmed at the time and did not understand anything about the claims process-

many years later (this was my Army husband)I looked over his med recs and the paperwork and realised I did have a potential basis for DIC-

In those days- the VA moved fast and before a year was up after filing the 534 I had a decision-

NSC pension granted (but not sent as my income was too high)and service connected death denied.I didnt appeal it.

Still not only did my NSO take the time to inform as to the status of the claim,the VA acknowledged it right away as a claim for service connected death.

Without the formal 21-534 and the Box for SC death checked Yes-the VA will not consider service connected death

If a formal 21-534 is not filed within one year after the veteran's death -there are no accrued benefits nor any chance for earlier effective date.

I am sorry no lawyer would take your case- they simply have no regulation or VA precedent case that could help you.

It is the date of receipt by VA of the entire 21-534 application that controls the beginning date of DIC benefits.

[emily]

Emily:

The VA often overlooks information that is in the C File. You probably need to review the C File as soon as you can.

Pete, The Dept. of Veterans, Washington, DC, sent me a large box, with over 2000 items, which is the C File! On Dec. 23, 1999, The Board of Veterans'(BVA) REMANDED my Appeal. The appellant's claim of entitlement to service connection for the cause of the veteran's death is WEll GROUNDED. The thing needed was a more detailed opinion from the IMO. It took the VARO Pittsburgh four years to send the file back to BVA. I was able to get a IMO from an expert in infectious diseases. The IMO stated that as a specialist in infectious diseases, was the result in cardiac involvement in the veteran's case which ultimately lead to his demise. As a result I was granted full benefits. June 21, 2004,the BVA granted Service connection for the cause of the veteran's death was granted and entitlement to educational assistance benefits under Chapter 35, Title 38, United States Code was granted. A decision of the BOARD is final, yet the VARO will not accept the BVA June 21, 2004, decision. My file was sent back to BVA, and March 21, 2007 I had another hearing with the BVA. There was no new evidence. The BVA used the Transcrept from the March 21, 2007 hearing and The Statement of the Case from the VARO Pittsburgh as evidence. The thing is everything, the hearing and the SOC was aready granted In June, 2004.