hypertension Dro Barganing Prohibited

[pacmanx1]

h. DRO Bargaining Prohibited

A DRO cannot make a bargain with an appellant or his/her representative by requesting or requiring him/her to withdraw a claim or take any action in exchange for the granting of any benefit.

Example: A DRO tells an appellant's representative that she will grant a 50 percent evaluation for PTSD if the appellant withdraws the claim for secondary service connection for hypertension.

A DRO is not prohibited, however, from discussing the lack of merit in any particular case or from encouraging the claimant or his/her representative to withdraw a meritless appeal.

Section C. Decision Review Officer (DRO) Review Process. Found on page 10.

[retiredat44]

I made a deal with my base personnel office,, I got very sick from the jet fuel (severe headaches, limbs swelling, blood, and severe edema.. and a doctor gave me a waiver which said I can no longer work with the petroleum chemcials, they made me sick.. so they gav eme a list to choose a new job from..

I went down the list and every job I picked I was told those jobs were only reserved for minorities. (I am white male)

So, I finally got a job they said ok.. it was to work in data processing on computers for a weather squadron,, I was working there for several weeks, and even receieved an award for a perfect job in my skills and converting the data...

then one day they told me my job has been swtiched to a new job, so they sent me to work at a graphics shop working with offest presses..

well it turned out in the printing business the rollers and drums on the presses use chemicals.. so I had to use trichloroethylene, which again, made my limbs swell up and bloody...

that destroyed the five years of duty I put into my work...

They made me sick all over again after the doctors and command agreed I was to sick from working with chemicals, yet they forced me into getting sick all over again..

I can go on with stories about getting screwed around..

but as far as the bargaining goes, I have no yet had this happen with my claims,, yet..

Edited August 2, 2010 by retiredat44

[Vync]

Vync,

The VSO can offer a deal to the DRO - they do it on a regular basis.

Example - we will drop the headaches if your award the cervical DDD at 40 percent.

This makes the DRO's job easier.

jmho

Gotcha

[carlie]

It's one thing for the claimant or VSO to offer up a deal

but totally different for the VBA to offer the deal.

jmho

[retiredat44]

count me in as one of those who lost their home (20 years ago), I to lost everything when my health failed me. I was treated like an animal..I had lost all my private health insurance. I actually went through the SSDI process first, and was horrified at how they treat sick people.. I then came to the VA.. I had already had several operations and was crippled... The fight continues... I had no idea how to navigate through these processes and if I had I would have never gone through all this hell for more than 20 years..

I truly would not know where to begin but I will try to make this short. You don't know how similar our situations are. Losing home, marriage, car, and living in a situation that was deplorable while VA denied our claims. What makes things even harder to digest is when they have all the information they need and you ask for a financial hardship to expedite your claims and only get a denials. I think that there are many veterans that can tell us horror stories that VA put them through for no good reason. I even worked for VA so I am totally irritated that they did not properly process my claims but I guess I realized when I had to quit that I was not one of them but just a regular veteran. I will end now because it still pisses me off that I knew people that could help but it seems that they tried to hurt my claims and put me through hell.