Systemic Issues Reported During Inspections At Va Regional Offices

[allan]

Systemic Issues Reported During Inspections at VA Regional Offices

http://www.scribd.com/doc/55796796/VAOIG-11-00510-167

[allan]

chr49,

my DRO review lasted 4 yrs. Just to have the same evidence ignored and recieve rubber stamped SOC's.

[chr49]

chr49,

my DRO review lasted 4 yrs. Just to have the same evidence ignored and recieve rubber stamped SOC's.

Allan

Just as I figured. I've pretty much settled into the fact that it will take 2-3 more years. Sorry to hear that your review didn't go well.

[john999]

Allan

Why don't you hand this thing off to a lawyer? Too many things have happened to your claim for you to stress out over when someone else can do it for you(for a price, of course). If we here at Hadit are often screwed to the wall think how vets without resources and information are treated. No matter what we do we cannot make this thing go faster. You file your claim. The VA makes errors and you get denied. You file an appeal and the VA makes errors and you get a remand. You end up in court and the court finds errors and sends your claim back to the VA. While they fix the errors that the court identified they make new errors that end in a remand. The hamster wheel.

[allan]

I've done just that in 2009.

After a decade, the BVA sent my records in 2008, to the VAMC orthopedics dept where I was treated, for an IMO. The BVA didn't request an opinion for any of my spinal issues, only the left arm and shoulder. They completely dropped those issues altogether. The VA Dr didn't examine me, but opined the left shoulder arthritis was service connected, he couldn't comment on the left arm nerve problems and they never followed up with a definitive exam by a neurologist. I was awarded for the left shoulder and it was remanded to the VARO to rate in May 2009. All the remaining cervical, thoracic and lumbar, stenosis, spondylosis and left arm nerve damage is being handled by an attorney, since June 2009.

It left me to still handle the left shoulder claim that was already awarded. This is when I requested loss of range of motion in the shoulder since it was in my medical records.

The BVA shoulder arthritis was rated 10% Feb 2010. Again they completely dropped the ball on the loss of range of motion. So I filed an NOD and requested a C&P. The C&P examiner ordered a MRI and the results show I also have bursitis, tenosynovitis, tendinopathy. The codes say rate these conditions as loss of range of motion also.

The CAVC just remanded the spinal/left arm issues back to the BVA in March or April 2011. They have to explain why they gave absolutely no weight to a fully favorable C&P, fully favorable IME and a fully favorable IMO.

The CAVC case (spinal) will likely be done with long before the shoulder NOD. I filed for the range of motion secondary issue in June 2009. If the ROM doesn't come back rated in this next SOC, i'll find an attorney. That will make it around 3 yrs retro and maybe worth an attorney taking.

Right now I have an NSO that looks at my VA correspondence and passes it on to the VARO, most of the time.

Edited July 11, 2011 by allan

[john999]

Allan

We are getting there if we can just live long enough.

[Testvet]

Allan like you I had an extremely hard time with the VARO over my heart disease they refused to even consider it no matter what was sent to them justifying, the Overdose of drugs when I was in the Army, the Edgewood experiments, the toxic exposures at Edgewood, the possibility that it was secondary to my already SC PTSD, they just kept saying no, but by me keeping the issue alive until 2007 when they finally allowed us to get lawyers involved at the VARO level after a denial, I found a local lawyer thru NOVA and she was excellent she got them to give me a new C&P which they then denied SC and in August 2008 they denied it again and she filed for a BVA hearing which was held in Feb 2009 I got the award letter from BVA on April 7 and the VARO lowballed my award at 60% but they paid it in June 2009

next month I am having an AICD/beventricular pacemaker installed and then they will have to re-rate the CAD at 100% does anyone know if that will change my compensation in anyway right now I am SMC S for 100% PTSD and housebound according to the June 2009 award letter if they have to raise my CAD to 100% will that take me to a new SMC level? I have never dealt with this before

I don't know if there should be a compensation change I am SC for PTSD 100% CAD 60% and 10% for hypertension after the pacemaker implant is doen I should be 100% PTSD 100% for the pacemaker/CAD and 10% hypertension but then what should be and what the VARO does seems to be two different things