Vamc Physcians Opinion

[Mcafee]

Hello All Hope All Is Well.

My question is simple if you recieve care and treatment from a VAMC for service connected injuries sustained during service.And ask your neuro or PCP for an opinion.

I would like to think that this show a clear validation of care and treatment for these injuries over many years.

I would like to think that the VARO utilizes VAMC documentation before an outside opinion or just take the two opinions and meet some where in the middle provided they actually read the documentation for rating purposes.

Your Thoughts and Thank you.

[Testvet]

it has been my experience that the VARO ignores VA doctors as fast as they ignore IMOs if they have a C&P exam from a janitor disputing what you are claiming they seem to always accept their C&P doctors statements as gospel and everything else as false but after a decade long fight I have a jaded view.....

[broncovet]

There is supposed to be somewhat of a "priority". A medical opinion where the doctor has seen you one year would be better than a doc who has seen you 10 minutes. Also, a Board Certified MD (in the field of your issue, such as Psychiatry) should trump a PA hired by QTC who has never seen a Psychiatric patient before. A doctor who has reviewed your complete medical evidence, would "trump" a doctor who did a review that was less than the complete record. An IME (Independent Medical Exam) should trump an IMO (Independent Medical Opinion) because an examiner actually saw you, while an IMO doc simply read your record and offered his/her opinion without the doctor personally examining you. (That is, someone who reported seeing you with their own eyes would be better than someone who just read what others wrote about you)

"Lay evidence" would be considered to the extent that it did not conflict with other evidence. For example, if your wife (who was not a medical professional) testified that you snored in your sleep during military service, her evidence could be considered, but if a sleep doc said you did NOT have sleep apnea, your wifes testimony would be of very little value.

However, I am like Test, fully convinced that in real life the Va selects the medical opinion who provides evidence of a denial as a "Trump" over any other medical opinion regardless of the length of time you have been seeing the doctor, and regardless of the medical professionals expertise and regardless of whether or not that doctor reviewed your medical record thoroughly or not.

Edited March 6, 2010 by broncovet

[john999]

Bronco

Your post is probably the way it should be, but TestVet is probably right about a janitor doing a C&P exam will trump a medical doctor who is treating you. I recently had a PA do a C&P exam for a heart condition. The VA took the PA's opinion over a cardiologist. I had to get more testing and more opinions to get the proper rating. That really got me mad as the PA's exam was a joke. The PA was using my exam to train someone even less qualified to do exams. The PA just made wild guesses about my condition and it was accepted as gospel by the VARO.

[blanco63]

The same janitor (pa) who does all my C and P's dislikes veterans and always write things so the VARO denies my increases. Then my private doctor writes letters, refutes him, and I get the increases. After the last one, in his report he only included 2 of the 4 page blood results and left out the x-rays as there were 2 abnormalities in those 2 pages of the blood test and another in the x-ray. I am not filing anymore claims until I move out of this area of PA or to another state. It's a shame.

[Testvet]

maybe they have cloned the janitor I can't imagine he flies across the nation writing bogus C&Ps in every state rofl I have noticed they keep the C&P docs and NPs that give them the C&Ps they VARO wants it's amazing how none of them can find any literature in the internet or any medical sites that show a link between PTSD and cardiac problems despite the avalanche of such studies and data available heck my whole life I have heard that stress kills until the VA gets a claim for it and then naw PTSD has nothing to do with heart attacks rofl

[Berta]

"I would like to think that the VARO utilizes VAMC documentation before an outside opinion or just take the two opinions and meet some where in the middle provided they actually read the documentation for rating purposes."

I agree- the raters need medical documentation to justify their awards.They do this when the VA doc agrees with the claim.

But with a strong IMO with full medical rationale and a VA opinion that is negative -the weight of this evidence is usually equal (and I bet in many cases the IMO doc's opinion fully outweighs the VA opinion).

VA hardly ever says the claimant provided a preponderance of evidence.

They say instead the medical opinions rise to Relative Equipoise.

(I think they do this to save face-as many C & P opinions are completely deficient and contain no logical rationale whatsover).

As John said:

"The VA took the PA's opinion over a cardiologist." That is just Ridiculous.

They tried to do this to me last year.It didnt work.I even stated to VA my past claims reveal I know more about cardiology than their PA did.He said his opinion could only be based on speculation (I jumped on that in a heartbeat because he did not have the background or expertise to even be asked to opine on the claim.I expected a fully probative opinion (my 4th IMO) in the mail-from a real cardiologist I sent the records to- only to receive the BVA decision before the IMO had even been prepared.

BVA rejected the PA opinion and awarded on the established record they had.

The BVA itself had asked for a Cardio C & P opinion-not a PA opinion in the remand- another point I diligently brought up on rebuttal.

We have to rebutt with common sense, lay medical evidence, and so often these days-with a costly IMO

anything that is incorrect in a C & P exam or a CD & P from someone who does not have the proper medical background to opine on the specific disability.

Two C & Ps I knocked down many years ago came from a very good doctor who worked for VA.The VARO had selectively decided what evidence to give him-leaving out the most critical evidence.My shreddergate problems started in 1996 with the VA.

Years later when I re-opened my claim- I found out from this doctor- directly-that the VA did not give him all of the medical evidence-they had withheld from hm the most critical evidence I had.He agreed with my re-opened clam but could not formally opine on it.

Our biggest problem is these C & P doctors.

Or-as in my case many years ago-

not only was evidence held back from the C & P doc- the VARO then manipulated his actual C & P report in the SOC.I didn't even know that until the doc sent me a copy of his actual report.I didnt know in the 1990s that I could have gotten a copy of it as soon as it had been prepared.

Testvet is right-they dont even have to back up their bogus medical opinions with internet abstracts or documentation from medical sources yet our IMO docs usually include good established medical treatises or insert info from standard medical texts.

These bogus C & P exams guarantee claims will be in the system for years and years and I guess that could be considered job security by the VAROs.