Va Made In Cue In Granting Service Connection For Als

[CALS]

My husband was granted disability in 2009 for ALS. The VA now says they made a CUE in granting his service connection, due to his active duty being for training, and are proposing to cut ALL benefits. HELP!!!

[Philip Rogers]

CALS - as I see it, you'll either need to prove AD under Title 10, for the 90 day requirement or show that he had ALS symptoms, to a 10% level on active duty for training or within a yr of discharge. I can't see any other way around it. To me the Title 10 would be the best otherwise, otherwise as I see it, you don't have a chance. I suggest you start looking for work and saving wherever you can. Sorry! jmo

pr

Edited June 23, 2011 by Philip Rogers

[Berta]

If the request for hearing is going to be made-

I guess it should be requested in a letter in person at the VARO for the time/date stamp- or otherwise I might have a working fax number for this VARO.

Math isn't my strong suit but I think you have only until tomorrow to request the hearing.

[CALS]

Thanks for all the help on this matter. We are going to try and get his time sheets and records for the time we hope is ADSW, although it is very unlikely. We are not asking for a hearing on the advise of our VSO, since doing so will subject us to over payments, and once they make a ruling, the payments stop immediately. Our VA works real fast(from the time we filed original claim till first check was 3 wks) and the wording in our paperwork says we will get at least 3 more payments with no over payment. The amount we are losing is staggering. $500,000. I am grateful for the benefits we have received, however, taking them away at this point in my husbands disease is so hard. If we had never received any benefits we would not be facing the decisions we are facing today. After long and painful discussions, my husband had made the decision to continue his fight against this horrible disease by getting a trache and vent. He has an appt for surgery consult on this on July 17. He has already beaten the odds by living with ALS for 4 years, and he made the decision to continue the fight. Now, with no VA benefits, he can not get a trache and vent, and has to face the facts that he will most likely die before his 47th Birthday. He feels he has let his family down, and the depression that he has now is heartbreaking. I will fight this until the day I die, unfortunately, I will have to fight it without my husband. HUGS Lori

[carlie]

Thanks for all the help on this matter. We are going to try and get his time sheets and records for the time we hope is ADSW, although it is very unlikely. We are not asking for a hearing on the advise of our VSO, since doing so will subject us to over payments, and once they make a ruling, the payments stop immediately. Our VA works real fast(from the time we filed original claim till first check was 3 wks) and the wording in our paperwork says we will get at least 3 more payments with no over payment. The amount we are losing is staggering. $500,000. I am grateful for the benefits we have received, however, taking them away at this point in my husbands disease is so hard. If we had never received any benefits we would not be facing the decisions we are facing today. After long and painful discussions, my husband had made the decision to continue his fight against this horrible disease by getting a trache and vent. He has an appt for surgery consult on this on July 17. He has already beaten the odds by living with ALS for 4 years, and he made the decision to continue the fight. Now, with no VA benefits, he can not get a trache and vent, and has to face the facts that he will most likely die before his 47th Birthday. He feels he has let his family down, and the depression that he has now is heartbreaking. I will fight this until the day I die, unfortunately, I will have to fight it without my husband. HUGS Lori

CALS,

Personally, I think it's a mistake to not have requested the hearing in a timely fashion

without that I see no chance at all in keeping any benefits.

It sounds like that when/if the benefits remain severed the family will pretty much be financially destitute

so any overpayment wouldn't matter - as they say - you can't get blood out of a turnip.

Also, there is always the strong possibility of getting any overpayment waived.

If you had requested the hearing, no matter what VARO you are with, due to Nehmer claims process going

on right now, I doubt the hearing would have been scheduled immediately.

If it is found to be correct, that there really was never any entitlement to benefits to begin with,

then I don't understand how you see it as "losing a staggering. $500,000."

Another way I see this is, if your husband had not been receiving these benefits, it sounds like he wouldn't

have been able to do as well as he has during this time and the family would have had to face the decisions

of today, at a much earlier date.

I am at loss to be able to understand that - yes he has decided to get the trache and vent and has an appointment for

a surgical consult on July 17, but then you followed with "Now with no VA benefits he can not get a trache and vent,"

Is the July 17 consult with a VAMC ?

You had asked in an earlier post something (para-phrasing here) that he wore the uniform each day and worked

along right with the active duty personel that get the benefit and that he should also.

One difference is that at any given moment the active duty personel can be sent anywhere without question

and the same was not true for your husband. The regular military members are pretty much the property of the

DOD whether it be Army, Navy, Marines - whichever branch, but the Army National Guard people are not.

Of course there are many more differences than this, but this is not really relevant in trying to help your husband's

situation.

No matter what, this is a horrible situation for your family and I do send my best wishes.

Is there an ALS Society or Foundation that can provide any help ?

[CALS]

We have lived and planned our lives after his diagnosis with ALS with the knowledge that we would be receiving VA benefits. We would have planned differently if we had no VA benefits. Our VSO officer advised us NOT to file for a hearing. Our consult is with the VAMC for his trache, however, 24/7 care is required with a trache and vent, and I will have to return to work in order for our family to survive, therefore I can not give him 24/7 care. The R1 allowance would have allowed us to hire attendants for him, which is the only reason we requested an increase. No single person can provide 24/7 care for a person on a trache and vent. And you are right, my husband would already be dead if it wasn't for the VA benefits. Now , because they are taking away his benefits, he will die SOON. We had hope, now we have nothing. Carlie, please watch some of the links I will post about ALS, and put yourself in my shoes. We are continuing to fight in the hope of a cure. The "WE" will now become just "ME", because my husband will die in the next 6 months without VA care. I will fight for him until the day I die.

http://www.cmt.com/videos/ty-herndon/603383/journey-on.jhtml

If this was happening to your loved one, would you just say, Oh Well, and give up??

[Philip Rogers]

CALS - that's your decision. Listening to your VSO is probably the biggest mistake you'll ever make. You can still pursue the appeal, tho. So you "might" have to pay some money back. Wouldn't having your husband survive longer have been worth it??? jmo As you can probably tell I have little, if any, use for VSO's. Most are in the VA's pocket, anyway.

I feel what your statement "The "WE" will now become just "ME", because my husband will die in the next 6 months without VA care. I will fight for him until the day I die" really means is that you will fight for your death benefits (DIC) because if you really were fighting for him you'd have had the hearing and "maybe lost" and "maybe" had to pay back the funds. Sorry if I sound callus and uncaring but it's just how "I" feel. Besides I get a little irritated when . . . never mind.

I wish you the best for you, him and your family! I'm signing off on this topic.

pr

Edited June 25, 2011 by Philip Rogers