Houston, We Have A Problem

[Torvald]

Just received some bad news tonight from the VA, so wanted to vent a little.

In January 2007 I submitted a claim to the VA for depression. On July 6, 2007 they denied my claim. Well, having lurked here and at VBN, I had learned a lot in the meantime about assembling claims and appeals, so was ready to quickly respond.

I pulled together a much better set of medical records (over 100 pages) and this time obtained nexus letters from two different psychiatrists. I then submitted to the VA (thru the Texas Veterans Commission) on August 31, 2007 a NOD request for de novo review by a DRO, plus the 100-plus pages of new medical evidence.

On 10/12/07 and on 12/27/07 I received IRIS replies confirming VA receipt of my appeal on September 6, 2007. On March 17, 2008 I received a VA letter acknowledging receipt of election for a DRO review. Also, on 06/23/08, i received another IRIS reply saying my "... appeal is with the Appeal Team for review ..."

However, two weeks ago, I received a VA letter in response to a separate claim for sleep apnea which made a passing comment about me not filing a NOD in time on my depression claim. Puzzled by this, I sent off an IRIS request for clarification.

Well, much to my surprise, I just received an IRIS reply tonight saying I had not submitted a NOD in time on my depression claim, and that it was now too late to appeal.

I will definitely follow up tomorrow with the Texas Veteran Commision and ask them to contact the Houston VARO right away to find out what is happening. Hopefully the TVC will be able to help. REally do not understand how the VA could misplace the 100-plus pages of new medical evidence that I'd submitted, especially after they'd previously acknowledged receipt of it. Good thing for me that I've kept a duplicate copy of everything, so if it comes down to it, I can always submit them again.

Please wish me luck tomorrow.

[Torvald]

UPDATE

Well, I've got some partially good news to report.

I wasn't getting anywhere with the IRIS messages being exchanged with the Houston VARO. They simply ignored the copies of previous IRIS responses and a VA letter which I'd recently faxed them (the ones that had earlier acknowledged receipt of my appeal for depression in September 2007), and instead kept saying they had never received my appeal and the 12-month appeal period had now expired.

Well, I upped the ante a little bit, and it seems to have partly worked. What I did was (1) submit an IRIS complaint asking how to contact Houston VARO senior managment and the VA IG to complain about Houston losing my appeal paperwork, and (2) I contacted my US Congressman and Senator and requested their assistance.

Well, I never got any reply on how to contact senior VA managment or the VA IG, but voila, the day after my Congressman and Senator made an inquiry to the Houston VARO, I received a very nice phone call from a "Ms Lori". She said the VA had conducted a phsyical search of my claim file and were happy to report that they did in fact have my September 2007 appeal after all. That was great news to hear! (She also said they had no record of ever saying it hadn't been received. That was pure bogus, but it wasn't productive to argue with her, so I let it slide.)

However, when I asked her to confirm the VA has also received my January 2008 appeal for Hearing Loss and my February 2008 claim for ED, well guess what? She said the VA had no record of receiving either of them. Sheesh! She was nice enough, though, to give me a fax number so I could send her a replacement set of paperwork, which I promptly did. Will now have to wait to find out if the VA will treat that faxed paperwork as beeing submitted last winter or will count it as being submitted right now.

Well, two steps forward and one step backwards means I've still made a little progress, and I really appreciate my elected representatives with prompting the VA into fessing up that they really did have my September 2007 appeal paperwork after all. Hopefully they won't take too much longer now before the DRO acts on it.

P.S. I will also be meeting with my VSO on Nov 19th to discuss all this, and maybe she will have some additional suggestions on how to help keep the VA straight.

Bye for now.

[LarryJ]

The VA tried that little "trick" on me, also. You know, the "Ooooops, we didn't receive you claim that you say you sent us last year, but, we go the one you sent us yesterday.......soooo, we will just use yesterday as your Earliest Effective Date, if that's okey dokey with you (you dumb schmuck). Wereupon, seeing as how I really DIDN't come to town on the latest turnip truck, and, besides, I've even seen "flocked wallpaper"! I just tell 'em that they need to look around and find that claim that MY CONGRESSMAN'S OFFICE FAXED 'EM---LAST YEAR!

That usually takes care of that little end-run by the VA.

Yup, I just FAX my Congressman's (Sam Johnson, POW, Blue Angel, USNA, etc.....Good Ol Sam) office and THEY FAX the VA with ANYthing that I send to the VA. Voila, problem solved.

screw 'em.......I've been to the show and saw the elephant!

[Berta]

A squeaky wheel does get results-

I know that from my past claims.

and sometimes when you do want a congressperson to look into something ( which often only means more time added to claim with no reasonable response from VA )it pays to tell the Congressperson exactly what info you need to get from the VA.

Then again I tried that many years ago and the VA told my COngressman a Senators a bold faced lie which I just described to the VA OIG along with the litany of all of the lost and destroyed stuff in my prior and present claims.And all the stuff they never got that turned up in the C file AFTER the denials.

[Torvald]

Berta & Others,

I'm still concerned about my situation, so could use some good advice.

Although the VA has recently changed its story and now admits they did receive my appeal for depression back in September 2007, I've still got two worries.

1. First, the recent IRIS reply confirming they got my appeal in Sep 07 also contained a comment that they had received another claim from me (they didn't mention which one), so they would delay processing my appeal until after the separate claim got processed.

Well, I really don't like that, since it will further delay my appeal for depression, plus I've submitted two other claims (for ED in Feb 2008 and for sleep apnea in Oct 2008) as being secondary to depression. Unless I'm mistaken, those claims will get denied unless the VA first agrees that my depression is service connected.

How should I go about requesting the VA to go ahead and decide my depression appeal right away without waiting for anything else? Would a simple IRIS request do it, or should I do something more formal, like send a certified letter request to the VA?

2. Second, although the VA allowed me to fax them a replacment copy of my Jan 2008 appeal for hearing loss and my Feb 2008 claim for ED, I'm worried they will count them as having been received now instead of back in Jan & Feb. If they do that, then my Jan 2008 appeal won't have been submitted on time.

My VSO with the Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) said they have internal log books showing my paperwork was submitted to the VA in Jan & Feb, but the VA already told me they won't accept that as proof. My VSO also said she has a VA date stamped copy of my paperwork in her files, but said she can't give me a copy. When I asked why not, she said the paperwork contained some internal TVC notations which made them not relasable to non-TVC people. Sounds like a strange explanation to me. I would really like to get my hands on the VA date stamped copies, as I could then force the VA to acknowledge my paperwork was submitted last winter. Do you have any ideas on how I could require the TVC to give me the VA date stamped copies?

Thanks.

[Berta]

"My VSO also said she has a VA date stamped copy of my paperwork in her files, but said she can't give me a copy. When I asked why not, she said the paperwork contained some internal TVC notations which made them not relasable to non-TVC people. Sounds like a strange explanation to me. I would really like to get my hands on the VA date stamped copies, as I could then force the VA to acknowledge my paperwork was submitted last winter. Do you have any ideas on how I could require the TVC to give me the VA date stamped copies?"

This is not good-

Since 2003 I have asked for and received 2 copies of my POA files.

No problem -just took a simple letter.There was some stuff missing in the first copy and they put it into the second copy-

Yesterday ,my POA denied me copies of it in a letter I know there is some sensitive stuff in my POA file.

I saw some of it but the rep would not give me a copy of it.

They did tell the OGC some awful stuff too and I think that stuff is in the file.

I asked the OGC what they said but the attorney couldnt tell me- I then asked Well did they send evidence of what they said-and I bust out laughing when the GC attorney said NO not like you did!

I dont give a hoot in hell what they have on me that is sensitive but they refused to release even the submissions of evidence for my claim over last 5 years that I sent to them!!!!

I think maybe they -the POA ---shredded my POA file?????

I used a different approach to get copies of what I had sent to them.

This concerns me- has anyone else been refused a copy of stuff from theitr POA file???

Makes me wonder of TVC actually submitted your stuff to the VA.

They should have a copy of their 21-4138 too in your POA file.

But all they had to do was release the other stuff and cite 5,38 USC 552 as to why they could not release it all.

I have an OGC complaint against them but the OGC said there was no reason I couldnt ask them for another copy of my POA file.

I hope this isnt goping to become a trend with our POAs-due to the shreddergate fiasco as they might have the only proof that we did send the VA stuff they said they never got.

"Unless I'm mistaken, those claims will get denied unless the VA first agrees that my depression is service connected."

Right-I assume they were claimed as secondary to the depression?

"How should I go about requesting the VA to go ahead and decide my depression appeal right away without waiting for anything else? Would a simple IRIS request do it, or should I do something more formal, like send a certified letter request to the VA?"

Did you check off the box on the VCAA election form telling them to go ahead and decide your claim?

Edited November 6, 2008 by Berta

[Torvald]

Berta,

Thanks for the quick reply.

When I meet with my VSO next week, I will definitely press her on the issue of getting a VA date stamped copy of whatever paperwork they submitted to the VA on my behalf. After all, If I can't get that proof from her, it would defeat the main purpose of submitting my claims to the VA through her organization, instead of sending them directly to the VA myself.

As far as the VCAA letter, the VA never sent me one for my September 2007 appeal for depression. (In fact, out of my most recent 2 claims and 3 appeals, they only sent me one VCAA letter total). Therefore, it looks like I will need to prompt them somehow into moving ahead now on my depression appeal, since the 2 other claims I just mentioned are listed as being secondary to depression. I'm now thinking it will need to be done via a letter request (sent directly this time instead of thru my VSO).

I will definitely use a return receipt request - but for the letter, is it better to send that as certified mail or by registered mail?