Researching Passed Claims

[Tomahawk]

Can anyone give me some tips on how to search former VA claims for secondary conditions?

[Tomahawk]

The claim I filed was to get my foot condition rated correctly as bi-lateral flat feet (which I was diagnosed with by the C&P doctor who did my initial C&P exam for my 30%), CRPS/RSD left lower extremety, pes planus, numbness/tingling/swelling of the left leg. That is what my service connection conditions should be. As it sits in the system it is apparently rated as "other foot condition" 30%.

I also claimed my back condition as service connected and secondary to my service connected left foot condition.

I claimed left hip condition but then retracted that as I only have intermittent issues with that. My hip pops occasionly(maybe once or twice a month) and causes me to fall flat on my face.

I claimed right foot pain exacerbated by compensating for my left foot condition.

I claimed GERD and esophagitus with hiatal hernia secondary to medications taken for service connected left foot with onset of symptoms while in service.

and I claimed sleep apnea as I had documented sleep troubles while in service. However I had no actual diagnosis of the sleep apnea until last year.

My whole complaint isn't the doctors inability to find a service connection, rather he took literally 8-10 minutes with me, when I wasnt able to do the bends and crap he wanted me to do he said we were done. They he goes on to cite "partial" medical history leaving out the relevant stuff. For example the numerous times I went to the ER or my PCP because I fell after twisting my ankle or my knee giving out thus causing me extreme back pain, which then finally lead to the MRI of my back.

I was treated in service 3 times for lower back strains. As well as twice for knee issues.

I have been treated at the VA probably 8-10 times for back complaints. Had 2 MRIs for it 1 in 2006 and one this year. The doctor failed to mention the herniated discs Im being seen for. The fact that I have been in physical therapy for close to 3 years consecutively now.

My biggest issue is that they are going to end up basing the entirety of my claim on a less than 10 minute exam that doesn't show my entire medical record being examined. And being as I cannot afford an IMO Im going to be screwed into another 10 year battle. My initial claim was filed when I first got out of service. They "lost" my file 3 times before I finally wised up and got a certified copy of what I submitted in 2001. It then took them 7 years to complete my initial claim and rated me 0% for it. Really? 0% for a condition that had me medically discharged from the service when I in no way wanted out of the service? I had a congressional investigation into my case trying to get the med board stopped. I had letters from my entire chain of command appealing the med board, and in the end it was ruled I had to be discharged as recovery time for a second surgery wasnt in the best interest of the Corps. 0% for a condition that I had 5 surgeries for? That exam lasted the same. All of 10 minutes. So I of course appealed it. At the time I didnt know anything about getting copies of medical records from the VA, or going to release of information or any of that, so I was just blind sided by the ruling. Well I was scheduled for a second C&P after my appeal, and low and behold the doctor ordered MRIs, Bone Scans, took over an hour examining me and talking to me. His report was 12 pages long. 2 years later my appeal was finally decided and I was granted 30%. So Im sure you can understand my frustration with this last C&P and the exam being so short. I knew the minute I was told I could leave it was going to be unfavorable. But the crap they wrote just baffles me. So now Im stuck waiting for the probably 3-4 months for them to send me the paperwork saying in a whole lot more words "get bent". Ill have to appeal. And then spend another God only knows how many years dealing with this.

Im 33 years old and am unable to work. And yet Im almost to the point of giving up. I mean I have a friend get out of the navy with nothing really wrong with him. He had some minor knee issues, and sinus problems while on active duty. I told him "make sure you go file and do it now" as soon as he got out. He did so. He got his C&P exam 2 months after he filed. They gave him 40%. 40% disability for knees and sinuses when it does not affect his ability to work at all. They give him this within 4 months time frame. 4 months from time of filing to them calling him, yes CALLLING him, to tell him what he got and that he needed to set up direct deposit. Even he is amazed at it all. And here I am. II struggle to get out of bed some days. I cannot walk without knee braces, ankle braces, shoe inserts, and a cane. And that still isnt enough. I can only walk short distances then I need to stop or my leg gives out.

So to answer your question as to what I am trying to do, I am trying to find former cases similar to mine where they quote things like the veterans lay opinion is acceptable. Or where it quotes doctors and that making a direct correlation between 2 disabilities. And statements that refute what these 2 doctors have said about my issues. That way when I do have to file my appeal I can take a whole crap load of contradictory statements, along with medical research papers Im finding about the drugs and correlation between my service connected issues and my non service connected issues. in a hopes that this will be enough at a BVA hearing to force them into giving me the SC or at the very least a proper freakin exam.

[Hoppy]

Thanks for the update. I know your frustration. It took me eight and a half years to get what I thought was a very simple claim properly adjudicated. I finally got a fair deal from a DRO. The rating teams are incompetent. I had a service officer who had been a rating specialist for the VA for twenty years before he switched sides and went to work as an SO. We used to argue all the time. I would say the VA raters were purposefully screwing up my claim, he would say they were undertrained and incompetent. There is also, the problem of anti compensation doctors who screw up C&P exams.

I will try and find some info for you over the weekend from BVA cases that helped win service connection of secondary back issues. Also, what did they say specifically about direct service connection of your back? Has it been denied yet? If yes, what was the reason given in the decision.

[Tomahawk]

My claim hasnt been worked yet. Im just preparing for when they do. I got this info by having release of information print up my med records for the month 2 days after I had the exam. So I don't know what they said about my direct service connection. Although judging by claims I have researched the lower back strains I have documented in my SMR arent going to be enough. However I don't see how walking with a limp for 10 years coupled with falls directly caused by my foot condition and making me hurt my back do not aggravate the back condition. Which by CFR is all that is needed to have secondary to granted.

[Hoppy]

Why are you so pessimistic about low back strain? Your interpretation of a CFR must be supported by medical evidence. A doctor has to say the condition is due to your service connected condition.

The first link below is interesting. I typed “chronic low back strain is granted” and selected all years. I got tired of reading. Every one I read was granted.

http://www4.va.gov/vetapp98/files3/9828125.txt

http://www4.va.gov/vetapp97/files1/9700712.txt

http://www4.va.gov/vetapp08/files4/0834033.txt

http://www4.va.gov/vetapp92/files1/9201745.txt

www4.va.gov/vetapp99/files3/9922844.txt

www4.va.gov/vetapp97/files2/9711917.txt

[Tomahawk]

Im pessimistic about the lower back strains in service as I never went to the VA for treatment until about 2 years after I was medically discharged. I wasn't aware of actual primary care options available through the VA. I thought because I still hadn't received my service connection that I wasn't eligible for medical care other than emergency. So Im sure the VA would state that it was too many years between the stuff in service and after for it to be related. However there is a plethora of notations in my VA medical records since of me straining my back due to falls that were caused by my foot condition. So for the doctor to state it would be purely speculative to say there is a link just baffles me.

Also I have been reading a bunch of former claims and it looks like I may have a leg to stand on for everything. I just need to find a freakin VA doctor to tie it all together.

The C&P Doctor stated that my stomach condition and sleep apnea are more likely than not caused by my weight gain since being out of service. Well I have been on meds that all have side effects of weight gain for probably 8 or 9 years. Coupled with my inability to exercise properly due to my SC lower extremity should be enough to prove the weight gain as secondary to SC.

So Ill just have to wait out the denial and then find a VA doctor to make the nexus

[Hoppy]

I guess it is better to be pessimistic. I often tell veterans not to underestimate the VA's ability to screw up a claim.

However, over the last fifteen years I have read more cases than I want to admit involving back claims. A two year

gap in treatment is no big deal as long as you tell the VA what you said in this post. Basically you need to tell them

your back problems continued and you did not see a doctor because of financial limitations. As you will see below

what you say will be given weight. If you do not tell them you continued to have back pain they will believe that you

did not have back pain. You need to tell them. In the first case there was a five year gap between in-service reports

and the first post serviced report. In the second case there was a nine year gap.

I have often told veterans the most important evidence in a back claim is the age at which you are when the first

record of post service treatment occurs. Also your post service employment and any history of post service injuries

will come into play. The VA weighs the evidence for the claim and the evidence against the claim and makes a

decision. Evidence against the claim consists of post service employment involving heavy lifting, car accidents etc. I have a

decision somewhere on my computer that states that a gap in post service treatment can not be used as evidence

against the claim when the veteran has rebutted the gap in treatment with his statement that symptoms continued.

It is basicaaly another way of saying what was determined below in as much as you can testify to what your symptoms are.

Also, the VA includes in their raters training manuals age related degradation which is expected to occur. The older

you are at the time the first post service treatment occurs gives the VA the abilitay to say that even though you say you

had chronic symptoms your current condition is more related to age than accelerated degradation of the inservice injury.

I have also read the raters training manuals.

________________________________________________________________

The Veteran served on active duty from May 1980 to June 1984. The Veteran's service treatment records reflect

complaints of low back pain in November 21, 1983, and in November 29, 1983.

Post-service VA treatment records reveal complaints of low back pain in March 1988.

FINDING OF FACTThe evidence demonstrates that it is likely the Veteran's chronic lumbar strain with lumbar disc disease had

its onset in service. Based on the Veteran's history and a review of the claims folder, the examiner opined that the Veteran's low back disorder had its onset during service. The examiner reiterated his opinion and rationale in a September 2009 addendum to the March 2009 VA examination.

_______________________________________________

The Veteran had active service from April 1974 to March 1975. 4. Private medical records reveal that the Veteran was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in approximately 1984 and that he continues to have symptoms of low back pain. 5. VA medical opinions dated April 2007 and July 2008, relate the Veteran's current low back disability to active service.

The veteran reports a continuity of symptomatology of low back pain and discomfort dating from service. He is competent to testify as to these easily identifiable symptoms of low back pain. Espiritu v. Derwinski, 2 Vet. App. 492 (1992); see also, Washington v. Nicholson, 19 Vet App 362 (2005), citing Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465, 469-71 (1994) (holding that lay testimony is competent if it is limited to matters that the witness has actually observed and is within the realm of the witness' personal knowledge).

Edited September 5, 2010 by Hoppy