Need Advice On Disability Appeal!

[rosypalm]

Hi Vets,

Not too long ago I recieved my decision on a claim and was denied service connection for schizophrenia anxiety depression and I'm going to appeal. My pychiatrist who happens to also work for the Va is also writing a letter along with my NOD to say that I do have schizophrenia that was aggravated from the service because I made a suicide threat and it was in my medical record and also in my denial letter from the c-file. Also I have recently been awarded ssdi for schizophrenia will any of these things help the appeal? My pychiatrist is bringing up a new argument for the appeal and saying that due to the suicide threat which aggravated while in service. In the denial letter the va said "there was no evidence to suspect that I was mentally disabled and that i did state my humour was different" but now there is evidence and plenty that clearly shows I am mentally disabled along with my ssdi. How can I fight this!

[Berta]

Lay testimony is good to state symptoms. These statements should be detailed and I always suggest notarized-but not necessary. The lay person should give contact info to the VA in the statement.

The VA will determine if they accept this testimony or not and also how much weight they will give it.Lay statements are only a small part of a claim's evidence.

It is impossible for anyone here to determine how long a claim will take.

This case is what I meant about symptomatology:

http://www.va.gov/vetapp07/files4/0734368.txt

This is on remand as the veteran provided enough probative evbidence of his schizophrenic symptoms that BVA re-opened his claim and remanded it.

[john999]

The VA says the record states you denied all symptoms of mental illness in the navy. Did you deny a threat of suicide? That is a major symptom of mental illness in most reasonable minds.

[rosypalm]

well john999 if I denied a report of a threat of suicide why is it even listed in my c-file? It happened!!!! Obviously someone has to be considered. SCOUT thanks again for the advice yes its going to be continuity of symptoms from what ive read and the rationale behind it and my records I got on hand. Guess I gotta brace for the long road ahead of an appeal. :)

[Hoppy]

A big pronlem I had was that I found that adjudicators and SO's will make determinations as to what continuity of symptoms is. I would argue in any case that was denied due to lack of continuity without a medical opinion specifically adressing this issue, that the decision was based on the raters non medical opinion and was not suficiently developed.

There is no formula that defines continuity for all medical conditions. Some conditions would require shorter periods before first post service treatment than others. Continuity in a specific case is a medical determionation that can only be made by a doctor who has reviewed all the evidence of record. We had a SO here who told a veteran that he did not have continuity of symptoms becuse he had not seen a doctor within 10 years of his discharge. The veteran had an Identical orthopedic condition that I had and was service connected at discharge. I told the veteran that a doctor needed to look at the xray reports of his injury in the military. I thought it was more likely that they made a mistake by not SC'ing the condition at discharge and that the xray reports could establish a chronic condition at the time of discharge. We have had a veteran on hadit who was service connected decades after service based on one blood test prior to discharge.

This is a very good subject. I especially learned something from this part

"The CAVC conclude that "continuity may be an alternative for the second or third requirement" by demonstrating that:

1. a condition was noted during service;

2. post-service continuity of the same symptomalogy; and

3. medical or, in certain circumstances, lay evidence of a nexxus(link) between the present disablity and the post-service symptomalogy.

My claim was awarded based on the same symptomology issue. I never had a nexus letter. However. I had a stack of post service treatment reports.

[rosypalm]

HOPPY I don't like to use the term bombard but it almost is going to be that way with continuity of symptoms. The VA wants new evidence I say Im gonna give it to them :)

[Hoppy]

As I was reading the first thing I wanted to know was whether or not you were denied without A C&P. Finally somebody asked. However, I have not seen the answer. This is a very important question. You say that there was some reports from 2002 in your C-file. They should have scheduled a C&P just becuse you submitted a post service diagnosis. Your claim sounds to me like it has not been properly developed. If you did not have a C&P then no doctor has seen these reports. You need to have a doctor review the evidence not the RO. Send additional evidence to the RO after the doctor has reviewed it and incorportated it into the claim. If it were me I would try to find an SO who has at least a BA in psychology. They are out there. My SO had a masters degree in psych. There are SO's who do not like psych claims. I was thrown out of the offices of one organization who told me I was wasting there time. I then changed SO's and went to a VA shrink who got me all the evidence I needed.

The psychiatrist who is helping you must review the SMR, the logs showing any incident and your personnel file and post service treatment from all sources and list in writing the reports reviewed and the names of the clinics. Many psychiatrists do not know they need to review the actual written record and instead base there diagnosis on what you tell them. The case law is loaded with denials based on doctors reports whereby the doctor relied on the veterans statements without a review of the actual records.

The problems you had in the military would be more lilely to show up on your quarterly reports and personnel file.

If you have the records you say, I have seen schizophrenia claims awarded on less evidence. Psychiatric diagnoses are rather complex. There are conditions that have tale tell symptoms in the early stages that take decades to develop and diagnose. The fact that you have a psychiatrist who wants to go to bat for you on your claim outweighs anything that you hear on this board about the quality of your evidence. I do suspect that you will have a battle with the VA.