Support Statement From Wife- Good Or Bad?

[Infantry1985]

Could you guys look at this support statement from my wife and tell me if its good or bad? I'm going for an increase in my right should connection because I have pain all the time and my mobility is pretty much shot. I'm currently 40% total for my lower back, nerve damage in legs, and right shoulder(10%).

Thanks in advance,

T

Wife Statement.pdf

[Hoppy]

Treating outpatient psychiatrists reports should be prohibited from being used as an indicator of the level of disability. They ask you if you are working, However, they do not ask why. They do not ask why because then if you say becauseof your mental disability they need to put that in the records. I am convinced the VA is training the treating doctors to write vague non specific reports which understate the level of disability. A recent veteran I was helping had three treating VA clinicians in three different clinics, a psychiatrist and two pyschologists for there straight years. Three years of records showed the veteran as unemployed and his condition was improving. Actually, the veteran was recieving SSD for the entire three years. All treatment records were silent for any mention of SSD. The VA rated him at 50%. Once they got the SSD records and a statement from me stating that the veteran has not worked for four years and has stated to me that he has no intention of returning to work due to symptoms of what the VA diagnosed as agoraphobia he was awarded 70% plus TDIU.

[carlie]

Hoppy - Good Job !

[stillhere]

I would also like to add that you take a look at the ratings for the codes you are rated under to get a feel for what the rater is looking at when he rates your claim. Make sure that your wife's statements touch on those issues like can not lift over 25lbs. That kind of stuff to get you a higher rating and show you are qualified for it.

I know for SSDI I had to do a disclosure of what I could do around the house and how it effected me and my health. I have a heart condition though and it has a 100% rating available and is very specific as to what your doctor has to say.

What codes are you rated in and what is the highest % you can get and what is the criteria to get it. While your wife's statements should influence the rater what others have said about a doctors opinion is the gold standard that the VA uses.

Good lUck to you and sorry you are in the shape you are at such a young age!

[Berta]

Hoppy said:

"I am convinced the VA is training the treating doctors to write vague non specific reports which understate the level of disability"

I agree and have noticed VA mantra now includes the word "speculative" more then it used to (in my opinion)

My last C & P for my deceased husband said the evidence was too speculative to render an opinion.BULL CRAP. I was so pissed off I wrote the C & P doc a strong letter asking him how prime facie medical evidence could possibly warrant an opinion like his.I added however that since he was only a PA and not a cardio doc as BVA had requested- he wouldn't even know what I know as to cardio claims as I had probably studied more cardiology then he did.I was livid.

I rebutted the opinion with medical evidence and sent my rebuttal to the BVA and ordered another IMO but I won before the additional IMO doc had time to prepare the IMO.

The BVA had considered my rebuttal to this C & P (based on medical fact in the clinical record) ,and my 3 established IMos, and threw out the speculative opinion.

If the level of disability is understated,it must be rebutted with medical fact.

Unfortunately we can make lay statements based on established clinical facts in the med recs, but these days it often takes a real doctor to state it as VA can depend on inconclusive and speculative opinions -which are really no opinion at all and then deny or go doctor shopping for another opinion that conclusively will deny the claim. It is BS pure and simple.

And all of this is guaranteed to string out the claim ad finitum.

Unless someone like Hoppy takes CHARGE!

Did this vet get an EED that was favorable as to his SSD award Hoppy?

Edited March 26, 2011 by Berta

[broncovet]

I agree with everything posted, and add only 2 cents:

1cent.. The VA IS going to need "medical evidence" to support an increase, and your wife does not sound like she is a medical professional, so a medical opinion will be required...make sure it is "hoppy proof"..if it passes his test it should also work for the VA judges.

2cent.. The VA can not reject your wife's lay testimony ONLY on the basis that she is an "interested party".

While your wifes testimony may not be probative, there are some circumstances when lay testimony can put you in "equipose" (that is, you would get your benefits).

I think there is something to be said for "drowning" them in evidence, since if you give them "little sips" half the time they dont even read it. Caveat: Make sure your wifes testimony does not conflict with the medical evidence, but supports it instead.

[Hoppy]

Berta,

I was talking about treating doctors reports. Now you got me started with C&P examiners. The C&P examiner stated that it was not likely that an individual with panic disorder would become unemployable due to this condition at any time in their life. The C&P examiner went on to say that it was most likely that the veteran’s panic disorder was caused by or related to a personality disorder that predated service. The veteran had been evaluated and diagnosed by psychometric testing. The testing indicated panic disorder with agoraphobia. The psychometric testing was not positive for personality disorder.

The C&P examiner outright lied that the veteran’s panic disorder was “most likely” caused by or related to a personality disorder. The literature and an opinion I obtained from a staff VA psychologist specifically supported the main stream perception that etiology of panic disorder cannot be determined due to the fact that there are so many theoretical etiologies that assignment of a preferred etiology is speculative. The C&P examiner thought he had some “transcendent” insight that allowed him to determine that the cause was “most likely” due to a personality disorder. I wrote a letter to the director of the hospital requesting that this be investigated as extrinsic fraud on the court. However, the veteran did not let me go head to head with the C&P examiner. After he won his claim he just wanted to forget about the VA. They really stressed him during the claim process. The C&P examiner called himself a forensic psychiatrist. When I was in college I studied experimental design as it related to psychological diagnoses. The forensic psychiatrist would never made it into a PHD program where I went to school if he came up BS opinions like the one he was dumping on veterans.

I did write a letter to the rater explaining that the VA’s data base has thousands of veterans who are unemployable due to panic disorder. I noted that the C&P examiners opinion that panic disorder with agoraphobia would not lead to unemployability was not supported by any reference to studies that confirmed his opinion. I argued that the opinion of one clinician based on limited clinical observation would not meet the criteria accepted within the clinicians field of study to be considered factual. I suggested that the C&P examiner had to know he was overstating the reliability of his findings by ommiting a statement that his opinion was speculative and that his motivation for doing this should be investigated. A forensic psychiatrist working in a non adversarial system should know better than to write opinions that are not fully developed.

The veteran had the strongest evidence of any claim I have ever seen offset by the biggest pile of BS from VA clinicians I have ever seen.

I have to give the raters credit. They did not give any weight to this C&P examiners BS. I have to wonder what they would have done if there wasn't some guy like me who had connections with doctors calling BS on THEIR C&P examiner.