Regarding Cognitive Dysfunction

[Rockhound]

When I finally get my consult with the VA Neurologist, how difficult would it be to get him/her to enter a medical statement into my electronic medical records, that is if he/she agrees, that due to my difficulties with cognitive dysfunctions, I would be unabel to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation?

Is this the kind of statement that they are required to make, upon request, since it deals with a Veterans functionalality?

Rockhound Rider

[allan]

with the VA Neurologist, how difficult would it be to get him/her to enter a medical statement into my electronic medical records?

It would be highly unlikely that a VA neurologist would provide an opinion of any kind for rating. I'm not saying it's impossible. Just not likely.

What will burn you the most, is when you realize how little interest anyone at the VAMC's have in helping you with a claims issue.

Edited December 1, 2008 by allan

[poolguy11550]

Good point Allan

[john999]

Rock

The neurologist is going to send a report to your PCP. Your PCP knows you so he/she might be the doctor to bring things together and write an opinion for you. I PCP is the one who wrote me a letter telling me the stress test done by VA cardiologist (I think) showed a problem. My PCP's are the ones who have gotten SC for me for a number of conditions and not specialist who don't give a shit.

[Hoppy]

First off, I have already had the neurological tests that showed cognitive dysfunction and was probably due to trauma.

Rockhound,

Not only are you trying to show SC, you are trying to show such severity as to support unemployability.

How is the dysfunction measured on the existing tests. Do they use such terms as mild, moderate or severe. Are there numeric measurements. How old or recent are these tests. If the tests are old is there a possibility that new tests would show a different result. I am sure a neurologist would run all these questions through the mill.

I also agree that a primary care doctor might be the guy to write this report and it would not suprise me if the neurologist passed you back to primary care for this assessment.

What happened to the C&P process. Are they failing to address these issues by C&P. They could all be addressed by C&P. Also, consider that I am convinced that the RO and the VAMC's computers are of such that the neurologist would be aware that you have a claim with the RO and that the RO should be addressing these issues. It is for this reason that I think asking VA doctors for opinions is hit or miss at best.

Also, what is the current requirement for VA doctors opinions? Does the directive say they must make notations in the electronic record or are they required to make information available to an agency that specifically requests a medical opinion. I had a guy at a VA hospital tell me that they intrepeted the regs to require that doctors make opinions available to agencies requesting the info. I had the director on immunology at one hospital tell me he did not write reports when they were requested by a veteran.

[Rockhound]

First off, I have already had the neurological tests that showed cognitive dysfunction and was probably due to trauma. Should read neuropsychiatric tests

Rockhound,

Not only are you trying to show SC, you are trying to show such severity as to support unemployability. At present I do not have a claim in for this for SC. I am only trying to determine if it is as likely as not, that my cognitive dysfunction is the result or culmination of my head injury that, as it so happens, occured during my time in service, that this was the trauma event the neuropsychiatric tester implying about.

How is the dysfunction measured on the existing tests. Do they use such terms as mild, moderate or severe. Are there numeric measurements. How old or recent are these tests. If the tests are old is there a possibility that new tests would show a different result. I am sure a neurologist would run all these questions through the mill. In most areas of cognitive functioning, the test results indicated mild to moderate cognitive dysfunction, but in executive cognitice function, the results showed severe cognitive dysfuntion and the overall findings showed a probable cognitive personality disorder/syndrome and a cognitive depression disorder

I also agree that a primary care doctor might be the guy to write this report and it would not suprise me if the neurologist passed you back to primary care for this assessment.

What happened to the C&P process. Are they failing to address these issues by C&P. They could all be addressed by C&P. Also, consider that I am convinced that the RO and the VAMC's computers are of such that the neurologist would be aware that you have a claim with the RO and that the RO should be addressing these issues. It is for this reason that I think asking VA doctors for opinions is hit or miss at best. Again, there is no claim in for this as of this date. I want to document as much as I can, in my favor hopefully, before I send it to the claims process.

Also, what is the current requirement for VA doctors opinions? Does the directive say they must make notations in the electronic record or are they required to make information available to an agency that specifically requests a medical opinion. YES, to both. I had a guy at a VA hospital tell me that they intrepeted the regs to require that doctors make opinions available to agencies requesting the info. I had the director on immunology at one hospital tell me he did not write reports when they were requested by a veteran. Will have to look up the Directive again, to make sure my memory serves me correctly on this question and/or questions.

Found it:

b. Non-VA Medical Statements. Veterans may request a descriptive statement be put into their electronic health record regarding the current status of an existing medical condition, disease, or injury, that includes a statement of diagnosis, prognosis, and assessment of function for purposes other than VA disability claims.

Rockhound Rider

Edited December 2, 2008 by Rockhound

[Hoppy]

b. Non-VA Medical Statements. Veterans may request a descriptive statement be put into their electronic health record regarding the current status of an existing medical condition, disease, or injury, that includes a statement of diagnosis, prognosis, and assessment of function for purposes other than VA disability claims.

Rockhound,

This is the one that I ran into a problem with. The guy at the VA told me that I needed to bring him a form or letter from someone who was evaluating my disability and they would make a response to the requester. He would not schedule any appointments with VA staff otherwise. They intrepeted this to mean that disability claims other than the VA were valid reasons. Gathering these types of reports were limited to disability claims only and not for the purpose of getting statements not associated with an existing claim.

Fortunately, I found a doctor who was willing to write the report for my existing VA claim. Prior to finding this doctor I could not get a report out of VA doctors for five years. I talked to a guy today who said that he has been refused by all his VA doctors to write a report for an existing VA claim. I told him to file for an NSC pension and when he went to that exam to demand a evaluation that his current condition is the result of service. I am pretty sure that the NSC exam is supossed to determine if military service is involved in the etiology of any current condition.