Update On

[Berta]

I received another letter from Congressman Filner.

The VA's response from the AMC to my charges that they destroyed my evidence was

1.a copy of their February decision (which was great because -men and women I spent hours yesterday looking for it! I had a problem with my printer at the same time and have additional evidence to try to get to VA tomorrow-as well as copies of med recs to IMO doctor-and

I try to keep meticulous labeled files for all of my VA crapola- and advise to do that here all the time-but you know how it goes-

it is easy to mis -file stuff.

Then again I was so perturbed by the printer problem that I forgot what I was also looking for (the February VA Decision)however I continued to search relentlessly for what I forgot I was looking for -- ----why waste time.

Then the miracle occurred-in the midst of a fast moving squall with hailstones I went to my mailbox down at the road and got what I was looking for via Congressional Intervention! copy of the same decision. Ha Ha.

2. the Good part- attached to the decision was copy of email from me to H VAC and copy of response to Sub Comm liason, and to the VA liason person-

interesting-I have not been formally contacted on this at all by the VA.

"Please invite her to submit for the record (record being the H VAC) and forward her claim to VA as a lost/destroyed file inquiry."

The bad part is I have to make ANOTHER copy of this extensive evidence -working on my formal VA FAst Letter request as it is-a STACK of stuff they destroyed.

The good part- the H VAC will get it for the record and maybe give this some impetus.

At least I dont think the H VAC will lose either the request or all of the evidence.

This opened another bag of worms. I have been in contact with Congressman Filner by mail and spoke to him personally on other VA issues- that were not my claim situation.

The recent actual C & P exam results I got- where the C & P guy -a PA -didnt even come close to my knowledge of cardiology- is prime facie evidence of how piss poor these exams are-

exams that control the futures of disabled vets and their families.

I still have the VA exams I knocked down in the 1990s and apparently the BVA (by totally disregarding the initial VA opinion for my claim) saw how both Dr. BAsh and I knocked that one down to the curb.

You all DESERVE BETTER than having a C & P done by a PA or nurse who do not have MD next to their name and cannot possibly have the experience needed to opine on most claims.

I will respond and make this point as strongly as I can to Congressman FIlner.

Having anyone opining on a claim -who is also paid by VA or via a VA contract-is a total conflict of intrerest and this has got to stop.

The fact that veterans and widows DO succeed in combatting lousy C & P exams proves the point.If these VA medical 'examiner' people were legit in their opinions we could NEVER overcome their opinions.

The reality is that we often do.and sometimes even without an IMO.

The VA should refund our IMO money if we succeed.

If we ourselves are forced to obtain a real doctor- at an expense-to us to succeed in getting someone proficient enough to adequately medically opine-

either VA has to start providing real docs to us or pay for us to get them.

My medical evidence still remains unread by the VA, as their decision reveals under Evidence section.

Edited April 5, 2009 by Berta

[allan]

I wonder if we can get MEDDAC to provide a comment as to why the AMC & VARO's can get away with completely ignoring, Mariano V Princippi, 17Vet. App.305,312(2003)"cautioning against seeking additional medical opinions where favorable evidence in the record is unrebutted"?

If Not MEDDAC, maybe one of the raters can give comment. I realize your not a rater, but thought you may have picked something up with your experience as to, "willful misconduct". I would think ignoring favorable IMO's by specialists & supressing evidence would come under that.

Dr shopping after a favorable C&P or IMO is all I've seen raters do so far. These contract IMO's the VA seeks follow instructions to deny, but fail to provide medical science to back it up.

It's one of the major obsticals Vets face & adds to the claims backlogs.

I wouldn't look for it to be tossed around the commeties as a solution anytime soon & I don't expect Santa to bring it next Christmas.

How does a VARO rater get away with altering the statement in support from a private treating MD in order to deny?

1) Intentional FRAUD from a VARO rater is called: error.

2) Intentional Fraud from a veteran is a crime.

That's how they get away with it.

Vets who commit intentional fraud go to jail. Varo raters get a bonus just like the bandits that help put this country in the trouble it's in.

[Berta]

Thanks you all- I am not deterred at all by this. Just frustrated that the Sub Committee itself now wants a copy of my shreddergate formal charges to the VA with copies of what they destroyed. I have to order more ink and paper-Bill is right-

and I love Sharon's Quote from Gingrich!!!!! So true -----so true -As Josephine is living proof of!

Bill states:"If Mariano V Princippi, 17Vet. App.305,312(2003)"cautioning against seeking additional medical opinions where favorable evidence in the record is unrebutted", then etc

the key word here in Mariano is "unrebutted".

If they HAVE rebutted the IMO then MAriano won't work.

VA cannot rebutt my IMOs.They never have attemptd to since 2004.

That is the problem.

In 1997 VA exhausted themselves getting their docs to go against my claim.

and finally they gave up- that is they couldn't come up with anything at all to fight the claim.

The final OGC medical report is absolutely chilling.Every single charge I made but one was found instrumental in Rod's death by VA.1997

(But as I mentioned here before-this claim had a VA medical Peer Review that supported my charges 3 months after I filed the FTCA /Section 1151 claim.The District VA attorney wanted to talk settlement with me-3 months after I filed the claims.

Suddenly the attorney, the VA doc and then the report vanished.

I found this 'non existent' report in C file copy request in 2004.

Shreddergate - the OIG hoopla is just the tip of the Iceberg.)

I didnt have any IMOs -just evidence.1997 awards

In my present claim I have both.

If your IMO evidence stands as unrebutted, and therefore unrefutted, it is enough under Relative Equipoise to award the claim.

You might have to insist that VA award under Benefit of Doubt if they cannot rebutt or refute your medical evidence.

[allan]

Raters have taken the fraise" on a more probable than not bases" from a private Dr & two IMO's from Dr Bash & altered it to say something else that has "NO" meaning.

They've done it to every favorable opinion I've submitted. They claimed Dr Bash didn't have the full C-file before him. So he had to Wait on them to send it to him. After he & the PVA sent them another favorable opinion, requesting additional issues be filed, the AMC than sent it to St Petes to be processed. They lost everything, or so they say.

I can't be expected to keep paying Dr Bash for IMO's, when they continue to send them to the shredder or simply blow them off without medical science to back it up.

Changing a DR's supportive statement in the SOC is hardly a medical rebuttal.

And Dr shopping by sending it to Mohammad Fuzzynuts in New Jersey, who rubber stamps the last DRO's SOC, doesn't compare to Dr Bash's detailed IMO's, backed up by my records and medical fact.

Since I requested the BVA decide the case & it not be remanded back to the AMC, the BVA has sent out for yet "ANOTHER" IMO. This time they sent it to a VAMC orthopedics clinic I went to some years ago. The Lead Dr's opinion was nearly identical to Dr Bash's in his medical finding of fact & medical science.

This is what I see lacking in the VA's contractors IMO's. They write it up however they think the rater will be able to deny with, or copy the last denial. It all adds years to the already backlog of claims.

When everything else fails. I get a denial saying we can't trust the records you sent because we have no record you ever requested a copy of your c-file.

So I sent in copies of 35 years of requests & what they failed to send back to the BVA.

Next thing I hear from my PVA SO is, don't contact the BVA anymore.

Some folks just don't like the truth, so they spend their days walking around it.

[Berta]

"Next thing I hear from my PVA SO is, don't contact the BVA anymore."

Why not contact the H VAC and Sub Committee instead:

House Committee on Veterans Affairs CHairman Congressman Bob Filner

335 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

335 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, D.. 20515

Allan -have you formally sent them a letter using the VA fAst Letter on Document Mishandling? (AKA the OCtober Incident aka Shreddergate)

It is one royal pain in the butt to prepare these letters and VA knows it.

You have to look over the evidence they referred to in the SOCs, SSOCs, and see what was missing.

Then you have to send them proof of what you mailed, and then send them copies of what they lost or shredded.

Sometimes this requires seeing your vet rep for what they still have in their files that you had sent to VA (or that they did)

one good reason for having a vet rep.

My former reps wont send me a copy of the file they have on me.

I dont need it.

I started my Fast Letter Document Tampering October Incident letter weeks ago-

I have a working farm and so much other stuff going on that I am still making copies of all the crap they destroyed.

I had to order paper and ink twice in last 2 weeks for my PC-

and I was not too thrilled that the Sub Com wants copies too of what I am sending to VA in my October incident letter.

But I am glad that I also filed FTCA claim against for VA for my copying and mailing fees.

The October Incident Fast Letter will work-if we make sure it works.

It might take more pressure from vets who wrote to the committees about this practice of the VA.

As Larry Scott says-disregard those limiting dates in the fast letter-

the fed gov cannot limit dates when they themselves didn't limit shredded documents

to shredding duplicates of what they had.

[Pete53]

Why and how does the VA make believe that only a phrase that they like will unlock tho doors for service connection. Can't simple English be enough. Sometimes I just want to strangler someone who insists it is my way or the highway. What ever happened to the benefit of the doubt for Veterans

[allan]

I sent in a request to find out what happened to these lost(?)IMO's, SMR's & Medical records the AMC claimed they didn't have. Sent it to the BVA & My PVA SO last Jan-08. Never heard anything back.

After some phone calls every so often to the BVA, I found out another IMO was being ordered. That was in April-08.

By Sept-08 I heard nothing still & the IMO was not ordered yet, so I contacted IRIS explaining I never received a reply concerning the lost claims records & all of Dr Bash's IMO, SMR's, etc and that after six months this IMO hasn't even been ordered yet.

I received no reply again.

In Dec-08 I get a letter they where finally requesting the IMO from this orthopedics clinic I went to at the Seattle VAMC.

Since it came back favorable 4 months ago, I've decided to just let them get their SOCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC out again and take it from there.

It's only 1998 BVA docket number, so maybe their not getting around to these yet. If I don't hear anything by June. I guess I can take it that they won't reply, or they are Dr shopping again.

I do not expect them to ever tell me what happened to the lost records the PVA & Dr Bash hand carried to the BVA in DC.

At this stage, what can I gain when the BVA finally has it in their hands & not the AMC & appears to be making an attempt to finalize it, to start a complete investigation into what happened?

Wouldn't it be best to wait a little longer?

I thank you for your input & see where I may have to go that way.

I know the last time I got a congressperson involved, it only delayed my claim by two years. Nothing ever came of it.