Pva Vs Legal Help For Veterans

[autumn]

looking for pros/cons opinions regarding going with "legal help for veterans" or the PVA.

lh4v gets 20% i hear. pva gets nothing. i'm just not sure pva will fight very hard.

really could use some insight into this so i can make an informed decision.

[autumn]

thanks for the clarification on SMC, i'll keep that in mind

>>focus on getting your MS SC since it developed within 7 years it is supposed to be granted SC if they are denying your claim then they are just flat wrong

it certainly did develop while on active duty. med docs show it.

i will work on the MS SC as priority. i'm going with the attorney group for this. they are the only one's who seem to be in my corner now and they have the expertise - which i don't.

thanks all & good luck to you all also

[Testvet]

thanks for the clarification on SMC, i'll keep that in mind

>>focus on getting your MS SC since it developed within 7 years it is supposed to be granted SC if they are denying your claim then they are just flat wrong

it certainly did develop while on active duty. med docs show it.

i will work on the MS SC as priority. i'm going with the attorney group for this. they are the only one's who seem to be in my corner now and they have the expertise - which i don't.

thanks all & good luck to you all also

there is a female vet that used to be active in Gulf War Issues and now she is in with another group Julie Mock is her name I think she had MS and it was from her that I learned about the 7 year rule for MS it had to develop within 7 years from discharge in order to be eligible for SC if it wasn't developed or symptoms had not been seen or treated before the 7 year mark then the claim would lose she was the "expert" on MS is seems as is a lot of Gulf War veterans developed it

[autumn]

i learned about the 7 year rule from a PVA friend last year.

symptoms and CSF tests were positive and documented while on active duty. i don't think they had MRIs back then for brain imagining. i was being PEB'd at the time due to herinations in spine. just prior to surgery in san diego is when they saw the CSF positive. they discharged me honorably/med and said the VA would pick it up from there.

they never did until 23 years later no matter how many times i brought it up. of course the VA medically labeled me all kinds of weird names. only one thing accounts for 99% of my symptoms and all tests point there.

i didn't realize that about Gulf War vets but i'm not surprized. i have read some things about what researchers thinks causes MS and chemical exposure is one, as is CSF infections, which is what i had.

i'll look up her name and see what she says

[autumn]

http://murray.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=270533

[broncovet]

My two cents:

It sounds like you were denied at the RO level. This is what I would do:

1. With the help of a VSO, such as PVA, I would file a NOD. This absolutely needs to be done within 1 year of your RO decision. No matter who represents you, or if you represent yourself, or are represented by a lawyer.

2. I would ask for a DRO review (or DRO hearing, personally I recommend a DRO review as it is much faster than a DRO hearing..hearings take much longer.) Still no lawyer needed, IMHO.

3. If you are unsuccessful at the DRO level, and get denied again, I would again file a NOD within a year, and this time ask for a BVA appeal. Still really no lawyer needed at the BVA level, IMHO.

4. If you are unsuccessful at a BVA appeal, imho, now is the time to get a lawyer, that is, to appeal to the CAVC.

5. If unsuccessful at the CAVC level, you definately need a lawyer at the Federal court level.

6. Altho almost no appeals go past this, the last appeal is an appeal to the US supreme court. You have about a zero chance of your case ever being heard at the US supreme court level pro se.

[autumn]

many thanks for the insight.

1). yes that is true

2). a NOD has been filed

3). a DRO review has been requested

4). haven't gotten there

5). haven't gotten there

6). haven't gotten there

the attorney did the above. i did as much as i could do. for whatever reason, the local pva and i never got off to a good start. i called national pva to request i see another pva rep and they said no, the one here had to do it.

i showed him the same docs i showed everyone else. he said none of that mattered. kinda took up for the VA when i mentioned the VA made a mistake.

the legal team took the case with the same documentation. two independent specialists have diagnosed me and strongly urged me to get on a DMD treatment and to tell the VA that. The VA just won't commit to the MS "term", they call it "unspecified something or other". limboland is what it is called.

the legal team is very respectful. even said i could drop them and go with the pva and they would forward all the data they have. just let them know before things get too deep. so i don't get the feeling they want to rake me.

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1. With the help of a VSO, such as PVA, I would file a NOD. This absolutely needs to be done within 1 year of your RO decision. No matter who represents you, or if you represent yourself, or are represented by a lawyer.

2. I would ask for a DRO review (or DRO hearing, personally I recommend a DRO review as it is much faster than a DRO hearing..hearings take much longer.) Still no lawyer needed, IMHO.

3. If you are unsuccessful at the DRO level, and get denied again, I would again file a NOD within a year, and this time ask for a BVA appeal. Still really no lawyer needed at the BVA level, IMHO.

4. If you are unsuccessful at a BVA appeal, imho, now is the time to get a lawyer, that is, to appeal to the CAVC.

5. If unsuccessful at the CAVC level, you definately need a lawyer at the Federal court level.

6. Altho almost no appeals go past this, the last appeal is an appeal to the US supreme court. You have about a zero chance of your case ever being heard at the US supreme court level pro se.