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Can I Get An Idependent Medical Examiner Now?

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Martin K.

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I have a claim for increased disability pending. I was seen by the VA physician a week ago and I saw in his report that he is asserting that my increased disability is not related to my current 30% service-connected disability by the lamest, through-the-looking-glass story you could imagine.

Can I ask the rating board to hold off on the decision until I can arrange for an IME (Independent Medical Examiner) to submit an evaluation of my chart?

The VFW has my power of attorney should I work through them?

Can I ask them what other decisions have been made in similar cases? If not, can I find that out somewhere?

Thanks

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I had a friend once who liked to mess with feminists. He would get into a discussion of equal rights and then claim that women only made up 27% of the population so it didn't matter anyway and then watch them just sputter trying to deal with such an outrageous gambit. This C&P result is like that - it's so bad it isn't even wrong, only ludicrous.

I hope I haven't been too forceful with these people, but it seems to me nobody is going to publish such a totally lame heap of obvious baloney unless they mean to screw me over in the first place. If somebody throws a brick through my window, is it wisdom to wonder whether it was a mistake?

I was an RN at this VA hospital for two years. I wish I could say this was the most disturbing misbehavior I've ever seen pulled off by a VA suit. It's down there but not even close to some of he chicanery I've seen them try to pull off.

God help all of us and preserve us from the tender mercies of these people.

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Pete- I do feel we should be respectful when dealing with the VA but not allow them to get away with stuff like this.

My philosophy -

it oftens takes putting a foot up someone's rectum to force them to remove their own thumbs from it.

My former vet reps are trained to be "nice" to the DROs and VARO employees-

I know where nice has gotten them- right at the bottom of the barrel as far as awarded claims ( see BVA Annual Report from the BVA Chairman Terry-the assessment of the service orgs stats)

and most of their vets get denied. The VARO up here walks all over them and they considered me a loose cannon because if I didnt buy what VA was selling (and did not accept the rep orgs persuation to do that)

You can be very respectful in a very strong letter to VA-one reason I went to AMU and learned how to write Orders of Command-

But we all must aggressively prosecute our claims-

and strongly raise our objections to piss poor deficient medical reports.

NVLSP (who I have had claims training from ) makes this point very clear in the VBM.

I personally do not feel this vet's letter was inappropriate at all. You should see what I have written to them.

Pete said:

"The VA usually hunkers down when threatened."

True- but often that is when they start to actually read the evidence.

In 1997 when I told VA what I was going to do next-

someone in DC was horrified enough to go through my file and clearly- my prime evidence has been destroyed, I faxed it to DC, and Bingo- the award came immediately on that one.

( I was going to report one of the VA's Chief Physicians in DC to the American Medical Association as being incompetent.But they werent incompetent.

VARO Buffalo had withheld so much evidence from them

that their initial medical report reflected they were medically incompetent -when the report was compared to the clinical record. )

They then did a profoundly detailed medical review Re-do report using the actual evidence- which revealed beyond any doubt that VA killed my husband.

Too many vets gets lousy C & Ps that they could attack as soon as they get the actual exam-

I want the VA to have regulation stating an unredacted copy of the full C & P report will be attached to SOCs or better yet sent o as soon as a copy is available to the veteran-(will work on that next month with letter to the H VAC)

If we have real rights at all like in a civil court we would get all evidence they have (like C & P exams)without being forced to ask for it.

Vets out there still dont know in many cases that they can get these actual reports before they are manipulated or parsed in the SOC.

It means we fight an invisible enemy-

we should have those C & P reports right away as they are the single entity in most claims-that controls the denials.

Edited by Berta
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Berta, I got quotes from three medical textbooks showing that this guy was talking applesauce when he stated that ischemic strokes aqren't caused by high blood pressure - which would quash my claim. I gave them a week to respond and they haven't.

In addition to going up the chain of command, I was thinking of complaining to joint commission for obviously unprofessional conduct. Where can I find out where this guy from Bombay got his US licensyre so I canlodge a complaint. Do you know?

Thanks,

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Martin what does your neurologist have to say about this? Are you affected on your rt or left side? I noticed you spoke of the use of a cane, so you are able to ambulate, right? What therapies were used and when did they stop? Do you have someone else who can help you with exercises? With strokes, one usually receives treatments with neurologists. Do you see civilian physicians, those outside of the va?

I have a claim for increased disability pending. I was seen by the VA physician a week ago and I saw in his report that he is asserting that my increased disability is not related to my current 30% service-connected disability by the lamest, through-the-looking-glass story you could imagine.

Can I ask the rating board to hold off on the decision until I can arrange for an IME (Independent Medical Examiner) to submit an evaluation of my chart?

The VFW has my power of attorney should I work through them?

Can I ask them what other decisions have been made in similar cases? If not, can I find that out somewhere?

Thanks

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For a small fee Health Grades will do a run down on him-if this doc is in their data base.

Also your state might hacve a HHS data base for disciplined doctors.

If he has ever been disciplined for medical error or malpractrice he should be listed there in the state data base under HHS.

I found the NYS HHS disciplined doctors data base very quickly-but it depends on how your state has posted it on the net-

Use those textbook print outs as evidence and even give them to your IMO doc- I have present IMO doc and sent him many printouts for my current claim to cooborate the other IMOs I have.

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