Dro Appeal ?

[rosypalm]

Hello Veterans,

I haven't been on this forum since four months ago . I was denied service connection for schizophrenia to include anxiety and depression and opted to appeal using the DRO. I then went to the VSO and the representative wrote an argument from in service of a suicide report and call to the VA hospital six months after service for depression to when the suicide ideation and manifestations first happened. I'm getting an independant medical opinion all I have questions . How long does the DRO appeal last? Is the initial claim then from the time the initial service connection for schizophrenia to include anxiety and depression was denied? Is this going to be retroactive?

[sixthscents]

thanks sixthsense

All of this makes sense except the retroactive thing could u clarify ? I didn't file within one year of discharge so thats a no go. I got out in 02 and filed in may of 08 the initial claim and was denied in jan 09 and appealed feb or march 09. What date would likely say that is the initial date the retroactive takes place?

Woops sorry.. I thought from what you said that it was within a year of discharge. Obviously I didnt read it correctly. Your date of claim will be the original date of claim, May of 08, since you filed your appeal within one year of the rating decision. There's an issue with onset dates in this, but I doubt it applies to your case so, I think that May 08 is solid.

Also, yes VSO's need to have all the information to do their job. A complete set of service medical records is very imprtant if you can find them. A question: had you ever filed a claim before, and were you severanced from the military? I am asking this for a particular reason.

[rosypalm]

Woops sorry.. I thought from what you said that it was within a year of discharge. Obviously I didnt read it correctly. Your date of claim will be the original date of claim, May of 08, since you filed your appeal within one year of the rating decision. There's an issue with onset dates in this, but I doubt it applies to your case so, I think that May 08 is solid.

Also, yes VSO's need to have all the information to do their job. A complete set of service medical records is very imprtant if you can find them. A question: had you ever filed a claim before, and were you severanced from the military? I am asking this for a particular reason.

I have filed a claim before and no I wasn't severanced. What reason ?

[Pete53]

Rosy

Please only hit submit once. Sometimes it takes a minute or two to load.

[rosypalm]

Also another quick question what do u think my rating is gonna look like if I do get accepted and what are rate increases? Do u think with a claim as service connected schizophrenia that would be at least 70 percent or 100 percent? If not at 100 how do file any rate increase?

[rosypalm]

anyone to answer my question below?

[Testvet]

all claims despite how long they take to go thru the appeals process pay back pay to the date the claim was first initiated in my case I filed for heart disease in Nov 2002 my claim was just granted by a BVA Judge on Aprilm 7 2009 I will receive back pay to 2002, persistence and evidence will win your claim since you filed in 2008 the back pay will go to the date you filed the claim

mental claims are rated a 10% 30% 50% 70% or 100% it depends on how the evidence shows you perform in life and GAF scores many people claim the VA doesn't use GAF scores to rate let them give you a GAF above 50 and I can pretty well bet they will lowball your award mine were always in the 30-45 range for over 3 years before they granted my 100% schedular

what the RO's do does not always make sense and they do it regularly and in many cases they prefer to let BVA make the higher percentage grants

Edited May 11, 2009 by Testvet