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?

[rosypalm]

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

Thanks testVet,

If u read the CrFr4 regs on disability ratings on the VA website and look at the covalence I was hospitalized at the VA hosp for a month inpatient and after that I recieve outpatient. The covalence states that a vet for 100 disability recieved a month of inpatient treatment then outpatient treatment for 1-3 months. Im still with outpatient treatment. Well over 3 months .

[rosypalm]

I'm sorry I meant to say convalescent here is the attached doc by the way Vets take a look and tell me what you think!!

S4_30.DOC

[keyystone]

Rosy, did you ever get a response on the appeal and how long did it take?

[ShortArms]

Not really asking a question here, just providing my experience on this issue.

I already have a SC total knee replacement rated at 40%. In September of 2008 my knee gave way and I fell breaking my ankle in several places. I had surgical repair with internal fixation in my ankle. In December 2008 I claimed SC for my ankle injury and in November 2009 was granted an additional 10% upping me to 50%. (For some reason this was processed in Phoenix even though my local RO is Oakland.)

By that time I received that award, I had been diagnosed with traumatic arthritus and bone spurs in my ankle so in December 3, 2009 I appealed to the DRO in Oakland for consideration of the new diagnosis. I also took point by point issue with other problems in the SOC. Sometime after that I was diagnosed with nerve damage including scar neuroma and tarsel tunnel syndrome. I forwarded that evidence to the Oakland RO just over a year ago. Then In July 2011, I filed a new claim for peripheral neuropathy in all my extremities.

To my point, I probably have shot myself in the foot by trickling the new information in. I feel like every time I send something my file goes back to the bottom of the stack. 2 1/2 years and I don't think my appeal is advancing. I didn't go through my VSO because they had a history with losing my correspondence and generally dragging their feet.

According to IRIS emails and phone calls the RO has what they need. I read somewhere that appeals are supposed to go through the RO that made the initial decision. I wonder if that is a wrinkle that is causing some of the delay? Oakland vs Phoenix?