Cue

[Tao]

Hi all!! Great site and nice people. I have been lurking for a while and doing a lot of research on a CUE that I think I have, maybe you guys can help me and give me your opinions.

Well it all started in 1999 when I got discharged for a left shoulder injury that left me with a dislocated shoulder. I was awarded 20% at that time for recurrent shoulder dislocation. Well in 2002 I was feeling some strange sensations on my left arm and immediatly went to my private Dr. Uppon examination he felt that my frequent dislocation were pulling on my Brachial plexus nerve and ordered a EMG & NCV test done. The results were what the Dr. expected and he Dx me with brachial plexus syndrome. So in late 2002 I went to my VARO and filed a claim for brachial plexus secondary to my shoulder dislocation. Maybe 2 month later I was scheduled for a C&P visit and I told the Dr. my symptoms and gave him a copy of my EMG results, a month later I receved a letter denying the brachial plexus syndrom. They based their decision saying that my condition was already awarded on the initial 20% that I got in 1999. I was dissapointed but left it like that( i was 26 years old and did not know anything about the VA and their tricks).

Recently Ive been getting informed and read lots of people giving advice to other veterans to request a copy of their C-Files and so I requested mine. Looking thru my file I came across the decision made in 1999 and all the progress notes talked only about the shoulder dislocation, nothing in regards to the neurological condition regardin the brachial plexus. So I immediatle took the C-File to my Dr. who has been treating me since day one. He studied the case and told me that he could not figure out were the VA links the brachial plexus to the shoulder dislocation back in 1999. He then proceeded to tell me that the VA was doing something wrong because the brachial plexus was a secondary condition to the shoulder dislocation and that none of the symptoms associated with a brachial plexus were not present at the time of the evaluation in 1999.

What do you guys think??

[Tao]

Berta,

The Dr. wrote a full IMO stating that my condition was developed because of the frequent dislocations and therefore injurying the brachial plexus with time.

Even on my last check up in 2008 the Neurologists at the VA told me he thought it was weird that I was not rated with a brachial plexus injury, I did not think much of it at that time but once i received my C-File and saw that all the Dr's that I have seen on my C&P examinations wrote on their progress notes that brachial symptoms were present I got a litle suspicious.

[Berta]

Did the doctor give a full medical rationale to link this condition as 'more than likely" or " as least as likely as not" to your SC condition?

The VA hangs on these specific phrases- they dont understand medical lingo that-in essense-says the same thing- but does not word it in words that VA is used to.

[john999]

It might be better to just reopen the old shoulder claim and ask for more money based on increased disability. Then pursue the CUE. CUE can be a will of the Wisp. Perhaps focus on now and then go after CUE.

[Tao]

Did the doctor give a full medical rationale to link this condition as 'more than likely" or " as least as likely as not" to your SC condition?

The VA hangs on these specific phrases- they dont understand medical lingo that-in essense-says the same thing- but does not word it in words that VA is used to.

He did not use those words in specific, his not up to date with the VA lingo. What he did write was somewhere between the line of "he definitely deserves to be awarded a disability compensation for this neurological condition"

[Tao]

It might be better to just reopen the old shoulder claim and ask for more money based on increased disability. Then pursue the CUE. CUE can be a will of the Wisp. Perhaps focus on now and then go after CUE.

John, I went to my DAV rep. and at the beginning thats what he wanted to do and i was ok with it, but once he saw the case with my C-File and the medical report I brought him he then told me to go for the CUE. I know that winning a CUE is like winning the lottery, one in a million chance, but I think that I have the evidence in my C-File and honestly if you read the report in wich the decision was based for the brachial plexus (1999) evaluation it even goes as far as saying that "sensation is intact, Hand grip strenght is normal, peripheral pulses are intact. Basically no nerve damage.

So with this in mind, how can they say the brachial is part of this condition when I did not show any signs of nerve damage in that evaluation?