Help I've Never Heard Of This One Before

[mac mcqueen]

:P I called today my rep who has been tracking my clain in for about 5 months now for what started out to be a increase in the left knee from 10% to whatever due to lose of motion due to three seperat surgries and convelance for both the last knee surgery and the spinal fusion. Simple claim I thought, Now my rep calls today and said that my claim had been sent to Nashville Tenn. to quality control outside of region. She stated she had never delt with this one and would get back to me but it looked like it could take up to two more months before they even get it back to the arkansas rating officer. Any one ever delt with this before.

[mac mcqueen]

Sorry James, I was just asking the question, wasn't trying to make a direct statment, I wasn't tring to miss interpet you, It was just a question. I respect your position and anwsers. You give alot of critically correct imformation. Without your post then we would be left in the dark about imformation we need to know.

I am learning after seven years in the system and still there areso many things I do not and probably never know about your job. If it was anything like my job in the Air force then something new came out on a daily basis and I hated it when people tried to second guess what I was saying. I know the system is ever evolving and I respect you because I do not work your job. If my question was offensive then I apoligize. I was just courious in the statment. I hope you accept the apology and continue to help people like myself who are just mudling through the program. With a program as big as the VA I don't think anyone has all of the right decisions. I my personal opinion there is nothing I've read that isn't subjective in the eyes of who ever is reading the regulations. It's just not yes or no there are alot of maybes' in the program. Agian I sorry.

[JamesBreckenridge]

No offense taken, Mac. I was just making a point, since it was such a good example of the kind of misunderstanding I would like to avoid. :P "The VA would be unlikely to CUE themselves on a rating that was reviewed by STAR" is not the same as "The VA will never reopen or review a rating reviewed by STAR." :D

Yes, it is an awful lot to learn and keep up with even for those of us who do it 40 hours a week for a living with regular training.

"It's all good," as they say. :D

[mac mcqueen]

I sort of wish I could get a job doing what your doing for it seems like something I like due to it's helping other who worked for the country, to get what they deserve. I don't think I would be able though I barley making it through as a school teacher AFJROTC instructor. I'm hopeing to get my Convelance in for the back surgery and knee surgery and then I have to resigne because I just can't handel the days of sitting and standing. My wife who is a nurse here in Fort Smith Arkansas says that I am just hurting myself continuing to work. I just don't know if I'm ready to be a stay at home husband. If things goes as plans and it never does, I plan on haging in there for another month or two and then file for SSDI and UI, because I don't think they'll ever get me to 100%.

I did want to ask you a question though. since you've worked it before i'm sure. When I file for UI I will be adding Depression to my file secondary to the knee and back. The VA doctor sent me to a mental health councelor, she is just a PC-MH Doc. Not a Psycologist. She gave me a GAF of 60. Will that do anything or will I need to request to see an actual PSYc. doctor. I don't know if her GAF will stand or if I needed an evaluation from someone else. Just trying to get my ducks in a row so to speak.

[JamesBreckenridge]

I sort of wish I could get a job doing what your doing for it seems like something I like due to it's helping other who worked for the country, to get what they deserve. I don't think I would be able though I barley making it through as a school teacher AFJROTC instructor. I'm hopeing to get my Convelance in for the back surgery and knee surgery and then I have to resigne because I just can't handel the days of sitting and standing. My wife who is a nurse here in Fort Smith Arkansas says that I am just hurting myself continuing to work. I just don't know if I'm ready to be a stay at home husband. If things goes as plans and it never does, I plan on haging in there for another month or two and then file for SSDI and UI, because I don't think they'll ever get me to 100%.

I did want to ask you a question though. since you've worked it before i'm sure. When I file for UI I will be adding Depression to my file secondary to the knee and back. The VA doctor sent me to a mental health councelor, she is just a PC-MH Doc. Not a Psycologist. She gave me a GAF of 60. Will that do anything or will I need to request to see an actual PSYc. doctor. I don't know if her GAF will stand or if I needed an evaluation from someone else. Just trying to get my ducks in a row so to speak.

Mac, this is getting outside the scope of the thread, but it was your thread to begin with, so I hope it's okay to deviate from the original topic.

www.usajobs.gov probably has rating specialist jobs available somewhere if you were willing to move, or at least VSR jobs that could eventually lead to RVSR jobs. Veterans get hiring preference, remember. Disabled vets get even more preference. Of the rating specialists on my team, almost all are veterans.

Of course, if your back and knees are bad enough to render you unemployable at school, then you might have a tough time working at the VA. Maybe it's time to retire and go fishing?

With regard to your claim for depression secondary to your service connected conditions, that is certainly a plausible claim. What is needed is a C&P mental health exam with a medical opinion where the VA asks the doctor if you have a depressive disorder, and if it's at least as likely as not due to your service connected conditions as opposed to some other factor. If the doc says yes, it's probably a grant. It sounds like what you went to was a mental health screening, which is not the same thing. GAF scores are not part of the rating schedule; we do not rate based on GAF scores. Mental health conditions are rated according to the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders.