Va Tries To Take Away 100% P%t

[rattattat]

My husband is rated !00% P&T for pleural effusion. He also has four other disabilities rated from 60% to 40% each. We have the DOD Id cards and I have ChampVA coverage.

Last month we received a phone call from Brandon, the kid that brings my husband's oxygen tanks and checks out the oxygen concentrator, he says that he just received an order from the VA to discontinue my husband's oxygen and pick up equipment. Brandon says "I'm giving you a head's up on this cause I know it's gotta be a screw up" Needless to say we were flabbergasted to put it mildly.

My husband called his VA Health Buddy nurse about it immediately to see what the heck happened. It seems that at his last pulmonary visit his blood gases were normal without oxygen, so he did not qualify for oxygen. duh that is not his problem and not why oxygen was ordered five years ago. Pleural effusion has nothing to do with blood gases, it is the lack of lung capacity that causes the disability. The nurse know this and raised all manner of hell and the oxygen was restored before the equipment was taken away.

If he had lost his oxygen not only would he not be able to even walk to the bathroom, but he would have not been rated 100% anymore. you can only imagine all the difficulties that would happened if this had occurred.

I guess I am relating this to let everyone know even with 100% P&T and home bound award they can still take your rating away in a blink without even notifying you . We are very thankful for the nurse otherwise we would be in a real jam right now.

Sandy

[yoggie2]

There are doctors at the VA who are hostile to vets collecting compensation. I think I have met many of them. Some of the doctors simply don't like vets and I find many foreign doctors feel this way. The feeling is mutual. They come from countries where the streets of the cities are filled with beggers and they put us in that category.

Very true statement, I had posted a VA Doctor training film here once that conceded this. The Dr's were going through training stating to treat the vet as if they were there for "monitory gain or lying"...yog

[Pete53]

Ratt:

You can appeal any decision the VA makes. Ask for an Administrative Hearing at your husbands VA and put together info that supports his oxygen. Ask for a Doctor to be included on the Hearing Board.

If they don't back off before that go to the Hearing and aim your argument at the Doctor.

Good Luck

[Chuck75]

I'd really. really, really like to obtain a courtroom admissible example of this. Talk about shooting holes in the "pro veteran", "non adversarial" VA system. And, if this was given to treating VA doctors, the medical ethics side as well.

"The Dr's were going through training stating to treat the vet as if they were there for "monitory gain or lying""

Very true statement, I had posted a VA Doctor training film here once that conceded this. The Dr's were going through training stating to treat the vet as if they were there for "monitory gain or lying"...yog