Veteran Service Officer Just Quit

[Getting Old]

I just called in to the office to check on my claim and add more information to it and found out that the officer in charge of my claim quit about a month ago. unfortanetly she was the best in the office. the person that is there now is in training and im not sure if i want someone in training dealing with my claim. so what is my next step? can i do this all on my own? thank you in advance.

[allan]

They are going to want you to prove a history of symptoms. This is what patients inform their care providers of how their feeling. If you've had no recorded spinal complaints since injury, regardless of your separation exam, it's difficult to prove your claim.

I'd like to add that DDD showed up on my x rays at age 27.

I was injured at age 19 in service.

Edited September 13, 2011 by allan

[Interested]

I try not to get into these message board mictuation contests but ...

broncovet, you wrote: This is very close to CUE. Rating specialists can not substitute their own unsubstantiated medical opinion for that of a qualifed medical professional. I would "nail" them on this.

What is available for review does not appear to support the above statement. Would it be more likely that the rater merely quoted the examiner's statement from the VAE? Instead of fabricating some great conspiracy, why don't you apply Occam's Razor (from the repository of all internet knowledge http://en.wikipedia....Occam%27s_Razor )?

Also, I'm appalled that you didn't choose to criticize this: Although there is a record of treatment in service for pes cavus claimed as right foot condition, no permanent residual or chronic disability subject to service connection is shown by the service medical records or demonstrated by evidence following service.

Getting Old Posted: My comments are underlined:

The x-ray was normal.

Xrays dont show everything, for example, they dont show damage to tissues, only things like fractures.

Your separation examination noted a "normal" spine and there were not complaints voiced by you at the time concerning your back and/or spine.....

....... Lying down will help this.

What? This is the rating specialist telling you that "lying down will help this"? Makes no sense and suggest rating specialist is recommending treatment. This is very close to CUE. Rating specialists can not substitute their own unsubstantiated medical opinion for that of a qualifed medical professional. I would "nail" them on this.

You saw a private provider and was scheduled to get therapy before trying back injections. You have numbness in the right leg to the foot that would occur with the back pain flare ups but currently you denied any numbness.

Contradiction. This is a very very bad decision. You also start limping during a flare-up. The pain is located across the lumbosacral area and does not radiate. You are able to walk normally without any assistive device. This condition has no effect on your usual occupation. You are able to perform all activities of daily living. Range of motion of the lumbar spine: forward flexion: 0 to 90 degrees without objective evidence of pain; extension: 0- 30 degrees without evidence of pain; right lateral flexion: 0-30 without objective evidence of pain; left lateral rotation: 0-30 degrees without objective evidence of pain. There was no additional limitation of motion following 3 repetitions.

Who says? The rating specialist or the examiner? Again, the rating specialist can not insert his unsubstantianed medical opinion. The examiner stated that on exam today, there was no objective evidence of painful motion, spasm, weakness, or tenderness. You denied any incapacitating episodes in the past 12 month period. Strength was 5/5 in all muscle groups of the upper and lower extremities. Straight leg raise negative bilaterally,. Sensation to light touch was intact in the upper and lower extremities. DTR's: 2+ bilaterally, babinski negative. MRI of the lumbar spine dated June 29, 2010 noted mild bulging of the annulus at L4/L5 may abut but does not displace the exiting right L4 nerve root. The diagnosis provided by the examiner is lumbar degenerative disc disease. The examiner opined Now we are talking. The examiner can opine, but the rating specialists medical opinion on your health is irrelevant. that this condition is less likely as not caused by or related to veterans service. You need to read the C and P exam..this looks like an obfuscation of the facts if the examiner said your condition was "at least as likely as not due to military service". The rating specialist "twisted" what the examiner said and made it sound like it was "less likely". There was no evidence found of periodic treatment more obfuscation. There needs to be chronicity of symptoms, not chronicity of treatment. You see, the doc can change the treatment, try different drugs, different therapies, etc. But you still have chronic symptoms. for low back condition continuing from service. No low back condition was noted on exit exam from the service.

[fanaticbooks]

I am no expert on the VA, BUT if you find you are going to do any handling of your claim yourself, you might want to look at my website (see signature below). It might give you suggestions for working your claim.

I wish you good journey.

fanaticbooks

[Getting Old]

Although there is a record of treatment in service for pes cavus claimed as right foot condition, no permanent residual or chronic disability subject to service connection is shown by the service medical records or demonstrated by evidence following service.

Is this not a contradiction...It makes no sense to me.

I have a fallow up on my back and he(chiropractor) is going to give me a IMO and i hope this helps my appeal.Also how do i submit this for my appeal claim without slowing it down. I have no idea being that my VSO quit.

Also what exactly does he need to write up in my favor in the IMO. I need details PLEASE.

Lets just say its not getting any better and he found a cist and something in my lung and wanted to know why the VA didnt let me know.He is pulling their xray.

Thanks Mark

[carlie]

Although there is a record of treatment in service for pes cavus claimed as right foot condition, no permanent residual or chronic disability subject to service connection is shown by the service medical records or demonstrated by evidence following service.

Is this not a contradiction...It makes no sense to me.

I do not see a contradiction in this. We can receive treatment for many things on AD

but to get comp there must be a diagnosis of a CURRENT disability.

Also what exactly does he need to write up in my favor in the IMO. I need details PLEASE.

You might want to do some research in the IMO Forum.

Here's a link for you,to a topic in the IMO Forum.

[retiredat44]

I had a similar thing happen, my vso was promoted and dumped al his cases into the pile with all the other thousand sof cases,, and then they said, all appoinemnts were ful until many months later.. and it al came at a time when I had to file for the appeals.. I ended up going to an office 50 miles away... just to get help sooner...

what makes it worse is I have a terminal disease and can't be jerked around much longer.... as if I die while the VA screws me and my family, then tmy fmaily wil never get the benfits and I will die in hell...

the claims system and al the digfferent organizations are all years behind and the claims people seem to all be nincompooops.. it's deny, deny, until the poor vet sob dies...

sorry, off my ranting..

finding and keeping a good vso and getting the claim done right the first go round saves years of appeals.. but the problem is the poor vet doesn't usually know how to file themselves.. and even if they do, often the vet (like myslf) is sick and brain is mixed up and foggy and can't think straght, we rely on a vso that know how to do the job.. often the vso doesn't know as much and we are led to believe.. also it seems no one knows your job, and when they rwrite your claim they bungle the problem, the hsitory and how it rleates to you job you held on active duty,, and they are either unwilling or unable to go through al your records and use everything they can...

the VA will not go through your records, will either on purpose or by stupidity not find and use al the evidence... leaving your claim denied,, rubber stamped denied,, purposley overlooking evidence..

We need vso that know what they are doing, will not abondon us,, the VA is like an attorney for prosecutors, thye are there to deny deny, and will do everything they can to deny you... if your vso fails you you are screwed... if you hore an attorney, they want quicxk and easy cases, they don't want to take any more time than they have to,,, and needing ot pay doctors for IMO's, you doing your own research... withiout training on how...

looks at anywhere for 1 year for the very very lucky few to an average of 3 years for people who don't have many problems with getting your claim approved to the rest of us that take many years of appeal hell, the hamster wheel of hell..

Thank you to these forums... without these forums, we are left with a totally broke va claims system, with people that only have one goal and that is deny, deny, until they die...

even if you get references for vso's that come highly rated, there is no gaurantee the vso wil not disappear in the middle of your case.. it's happened to me too...

I hope your health problems are not terminal like mine...