Appt W/ Cardiologist Tomorrow

[betrayed]

I am gonna see my NON VA doc tomorrow. I am going to try and get him to agree that this heart disease is secondary to my kidney disease which is already SC 30%.

What do I need to ask this doc? I think he will do a IMO letter for me, but is there a format that I maight suggest to the doctor, I want all the boxes checked on this, nothing left out.............what bases does my doc need to cover to help me

[Pete53]

Never hurts to ask. Good Luck hope your follow up visit goes well.

[Berta]

He should say it is more likely than not- or at least as likely as not (the 'more than' statement is best)

that your type of heart disease is due to your SC kidney disease and then offer a medical rationale for this-

I believe I sent you a treatise link sometime back Jim that shows there is an association-it would not hurt to show this to him as a print out and he could incorporate this into his opinion-

Also he should state his professional credentials, years of cardio/kidney practice etc, that support his ability to opine on your disabilities -

stuff like - "In my 20 years of practicing medicine,I have treated numerous patients with kidney dysfunction, who developed a cardiopathology that is directly due to their kidney problems.In this patient's case his kidney disability ( he could throw in a big medical term here) has substantially and directly contributed to his cardiac disability. It is well known in the medical community that this association can occur and I refer you to the following treattise (abstract) printout from --------. I state that my experience leads me to opine that this veteran's cardiac problems are most likely due to his service connected kidney disorder and this patient has no other known etiology for the cardiac condition."

This wasn't it-I think it was from the National Kidney Foundation but this link is good too-

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=37255

AH- this is it- I think http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=55

I was reading some BVA cases today where the vet got an IMO and it seemed that the doctors who not only wrote the IMO well, and stated their credentials but who also referred the VA to a specific medical treatise or study were given much more weight than just an IMO that stated an association or something was possible but that did not expound on it too much- and these IMO docs got more weight over many of the VA opinions that were not very sufficient.

In the IMO I got from Dr. Bash he referenced Braunwald- (not available on line) but which is a very well known reputable medical text and he quoted the part that supported his IMO as to the clinical record of the veteran along with the rest of what he stated.

And he sent them a 10 page Curriculum Vitae of his background and the fact that his area of extertise in Neuroradiology gave his opinion weight ( as he had assessed my husband's MRI and CT of brain trauma)

Edited June 19, 2006 by Berta

[john999]

If the report is going to be a long one for the IMO I would offer to compensate the doctor. This is above and beyond on the doc's part. He needs to explain in very simple English how every thing is related to every thing else in terms of causality. He needs to draw the nexus between the different conditions and your service connected conditions. I guess this is pretty much what Berta said. Terry Higgins has kidney problems so you could ask him.

[betrayed]

I aksed the doc some point blank questions and got some point blank answers..........

Is this secondary to my kidney disease? Answer No.

How long have I had coranary artery diseases? A couple of years, you dont get to your stage in 6 months.........

Can I have my spinal fusion? No not for a year.

Putting me through cardiac rehabilitation.............going to see my VA PCM Manager tomorrow. See my civiliam PCM on monday......................so now I gotta figure out how I am gonna present this heart disease to the VA..........I am leaning on a 1151 claim.

Not sure, but I did get good news today, a staffer from my congressmans office is setting me up for a meeting with the director of the detroit VARO to discuss my case. I hope this will get it all un cluster fu_ked, but thats hoping allot. Nothing here to loose.

[Guest jstacy]

Dont give up on what a cardiologist has to say. The real experts concerning the links between Cardiac and Kidney disease are the Kidney specialist. They can link Hypertension to Kidney disease and why not cardiac disease.