diabetes Am I Being Rushed By The Va?

[OldDave]

I'm new to this so please excuse my errors. I'm a 62 yr old Vietnam vet who just learned that the diabetes I was diagnosed with in the late 1980's is service connected. In 1998 I had a heart attack. I'm trying to make the connection that the heart disease is secondary to DMII. I applied in July and at the beginning of August received the letter from the VARO with the form I needed to sign and return requesting an additional 30 days to submit evidance. That is not enough time to get the medical opinons I will need to prove my case. I plan to submit my own argument along with data from the internet before the 30 days are up. When I am denied, I'll get the medical data I need and file an appeal. That will give me up to a year. Does this make sense to anyone?

[Teac]

I'm new to this so please excuse my errors. I'm a 62 yr old Vietnam vet who just learned that the diabetes I was diagnosed with in the late 1980's is service connected. In 1998 I had a heart attack. I'm trying to make the connection that the heart disease is secondary to DMII. I applied in July and at the beginning of August received the letter from the VARO with the form I needed to sign and return requesting an additional 30 days to submit evidance. That is not enough time to get the medical opinons I will need to prove my case. I plan to submit my own argument along with data from the internet before the 30 days are up. When I am denied, I'll get the medical data I need and file an appeal. That will give me up to a year. Does this make sense to anyone?

This is a good example as to why I always telll veterans not to submit a claim untill you have the medical evidence in hand and then and only then submit the claim. It save a lot of time providing the medical evidence up front, and elimates a lot of the required letters concening request for evidence. A va or military hospital will mail you any medical records within 10-20 days. It will take a month or longer for the va to even request the records, and that is after they sent you a letter requesting you to sign a release... some vets have their claim on hold for months because the medical evidence was not released to the va after a va request... next time I recommed you provide the evidence with the claim, Of course this is just my humble opinion... but how much time you want to shave off your waiting time is up to you...

[Stu Sanders]

In the past I have had to ask for a 180 day extension to gather evidence, records, etc. The VA granted it with no problems, however, right at the end of that time the C&P happened, and 14 days later the claims were rated, paid, done.

[Berta]

The new 30 reg I posted here as soon as it came out-

it is to ostensibly reduce the backlog (yeah right)

I am assuming you have diabetes mellitus from your exposure to AO-

the association of DMII to heart disease is medically strong but still you will need a doctor to connect the dots-

a VA doc would have to rule out any other potential etiology-

heart disease from smoking, being overweight, etc etc-

and as others here suggested it might take a real doctor (an independent medical opinion) to make the association -unless these IS some other medical etiology for the CAD.

Heart disease from DMII usually involves atherosclerosis-

my husband had peripheral arterial disease which my IMO doc says was due to his long standing and undiagnosed and untreated DMII.

There are many medical statements that lend to a heart disease disability as being caused by or aggravated by DMII.

Did VA ever deny you in the past for DMII?

If so you might be able to get a very favorable EED for the retro -if they did- alot depends on how your claim rests with the Nehmer AO decision.

"I plan to submit my own argument along with data from the internet before the 30 days are up. When I am denied, I'll get the medical data I need and file an appeal. That will give me up to a year. Does this make sense to anyone?"

If you are a Vietnam vet (or served in Korea where the AO was used for a limited period of time- the DMII SC should be a nobrainer for the VA-

I stringly suggest that you get good good printputs-use Merrk, John Hopkins, Mayo CLinic and certainly the ADA web site- and dont forget the VA's own Diabetes training letter here at hadit under a search.

Make a strong argument that the Standard medical community is fully aware of the association of diabetes to heart disease,as well as the VA and support that with internet printouts-

As long as you contiually supply them with evidence- you should have time to get an IMO- then again the C & P doctor might have a heck of a time atributing your heart disease to anything BUT your diabetes.

I have a diabetes vet with heart disease and cataracts that are directly related to his Diabetes.I got involved with his claim after he had been to the BVA twice and then the CAVC twice-

he finally got his diabetes award and lots of retro- but had failed to tell them (against my advice)formally he was requesting a rating for his heart disease and cataracts as secondary conditions. He kept thinking they would do that anyhow as it was obvious that he had these secondary conditions.

Of course they didnt and he is still waiting for them to resolve the heart issues because of the backlog.

Are you able to work? if not do you get SSA disability benefits for these conditions?

[Berta]

I disagree with something posted here-

As a former Prodigy Vets BBS member (1980s) our inhouse lawyer Bill Smith ,former lawyer at the BVA) always insisted that a vet not wait a single day to file a formal VA claim. The date the VA gets the claim is the EED in most cases-so why put that date off-

Say a vet needs a costly IMO and it will cost her $2,000 -lots of money I know-(private docs often give a freeby)

say she applies for TDIU in late 2006 and the VARO is still farting around with the claim ,SOC and SSOC by now (not impossible at the rate VA claims are going)and then the vet obtains an IMO,she submits it, and it totally knocks down a C & P negative opinion-the IMO doctor has clearly stated with supporting medical rationale from hre SMRs/ VA Med Recs -that her conditions are directly related to her service and have caused her to be unemployable.

the vet has balanced the scales (Relative Equipoise) and the VA awards the TDIU.

Her very first TDIU check=-retro to the date in 2006 when she sent them the 21-8940-could absorb the cost of the IMO.

I say if a vet feels they have a valid claim they should file it- Yesterday!

Edited August 27, 2008 by Berta

[rentalguy1]

Of course a vet should file a valid claim yesterday....so long as they have all of the evidence to support it. The case you mentioned has a vet that was dealt the "bad C&P" card. None of us can forsee something like this, but none of us should have to go out and pay for an IMO prior to actually needing this. The vet in your case still should have had all of the medical evidence together to prove the claim before filing.

[fanaticbooks]

I don't know if you have read about my site elsewhere, but if you haven't here is a quick version. If you are going to do the work yourself, you might check it out. It is free with no strings. It is a guide for researching, organizing and assembling va claims/appeals for submission. It gives access to CFR Title 38 as well as Medlineplus, a great sight for research.

I hope it helps:

www.howtoassemblevaclaims.com