Amc Defies My

[Berta]

Apparently my evidence has been destroyed (AGAIN)

In spite of the fact that the BVA acknowledged in the Sept 2008 Remand that none of my medical evidence to include my 3 IMOs have ever been address by VA (filed this claim Feb 2003)

The AMC completely ignored it.I just got their decision.

The VA examiner was a Physician's assistant and his statements indicate he did not have any of the medical evidence.Even if he did- his opinion was outweighted by my 3 IMO doctors anyhow- but of course those IMOs are now gone again.

At first I cursed for 2 hours when I got the decision-my PC sat dish was full of ice and snow and that just melted so I could not even gripe on line.Then it occurred to me that the Shreddergate hearing is set for Feb 25th.

I have proof with this decision that in spite of the October Incident FAst Letter and in spite of the pending H Sub Com hearing and the IG audit that revealed VA had destroyed critical evidence from claims files-

even the AMU is unconcerned as to whether our evidence ever gets read.

They said they had not received this evidence in OCtober.

The Evidence listed is a letter I sent to Russo-SMC Director- on Nov 10th asking that this evidence be found and used for the claim. <_<

Most of this evidence also came from the BVA with the remand.

It is gone.

I am charging the VA with shredding it- they might as well have shreddered it because -if they dont acknowledge evidence,obviously it has no value to them to retain.

I can prove tham since February 2003 when I first started to send evidence, NONE of it -a very large stack by now- has ever been addressed at all by VA- except the BVA

specifically noted this in their remand.

This will be fun-

I have prepared a letter to the new Secretary,to the IG, to H VAC, and to the Sub COmmittee on investigations/oversight-

this comes on the heels of past letters I wrote to them as to the socalled "October Incident" an isolated event per the VA- Isolated my butt-

SHreddergate is NOT public info yet-only vets who are on the net are aware of it-the IG report has not been publically released yet.

Only Regional Offices got the Fast Letter # 08-41.I bet even many vet reps are unaware the VA was caught shredding critical claims documents-

A veteran advocate told me the other day that he had contacted VACO and they have not implimented the fast letter provisions nor did they seem to have a clue as to what to do about the fast letter. I found nothing yet at th Fed Reg site nor has M21-1 been changed to impliment a procedure to deal with claimants whose evidence has disappeared from the VA -to the detriment of their claims.

That fast letter should have been sent to every single vet or widow-in my opinion- whose claim was denied by the VA.

If probative evidence that supports your claim is ignored completely by the VA and never even listed in the Evidence section of your decision-you are-

more than likely- a victim of shreddergate and the VA has lost, misplaced or destroyed whatever you sent.

Although the AMC told me they had the complete record on January 12th-ready to decide- my call to them Friday revealed the claim is still in transit.

How did they decide it if it was in transit?

Because they were not going to consider my medical evidence anyhow.

Many when the October incident becomes public there will be more vets and widows who will take the time to aggressively complain.

The only way I succeeded in my past claims- when the VA did this same thing to me regarding my evidence was to get tough and use the phone and mail and contact anyone I could in the VA system who would listen.

it worked then and it will work again.

[vaf]

Berta, our writ request was denied also, but only because the AMC finally reviewed the claim, so the writ request technically became moot. Actually, it should have been dismissed, and not denied, but we got the end result we wished for (a decision, even though it wasn't the decision we wanted). Once we figure out if the Board does or doesn't agree with the AMC, if it does agree with the denial, we're giving the appeal to our lawyer to add to the others currently pending at the CAVC.

It pays to hold on to those writ requests -- sooner or later, I believe we end up submitting more than one, since the VA is taking longer and longer to deal with these old, old remands...

[luvHIM]

Berta, Sorry this is happening. I agree with Josephine...we know you are going to pursue this matter and ultimately come out on top because another vet is going to need the help that your knowledge/experience will help provide.

[MikeR]

Berta, This blows. Do you think a hearing could help?

[jbasser]

i went to get my travel pay and there was a woman who should have been in a large bed somewhere on a diet. she was so big she could hardly breathe and had a hard time reaching to get the document out of the machine. her hips were drooping of the side of the chair almost to the ground. she was talking on the telephone for thirty minutes to who knows before she acknowledged i was even there.

she almost got out of breath just reaching for the document i am not criticizing her for her apparent disability,but i think people like this are not capable of doing an good job .

i have the feeling that is what is happening at all these offices of the different va installations. these people get these jobs and they are not healthy enough to do them and the load is too much.

when they get overloaded they have to do something to cover their inability to do the job. i am not against hiring people with disabilities ,but there should be some oversight as to what the person is capable of doing.

you see them all the time and wonder how do they function and take care of business?

What if that poor lady had a medical condtion that made her that way. At least she is working.

The VA has a lot of issues I do agree but the weight issue is not the cause.

The main reason for Shredding was mis-organization and overworked people. A persons weight doesnt have a thing to do with it and it has no place here at Hadit.

J

[jbasser]

Berta, you have had several bumps over the many years I have known you.

This is just a distraction to you. Dont forget to use the Magic word. ( Spoliate)

You are well within the parameters of time for the records shredding fiasco.

Good luck as I am confident you will prevail.

John

[Pete53]

Berta:

Damit. You deserve better.

Free:

I think that you nailed it. The VA knows exactly what it is doing when they ignore evidence