Doctors Letter

[JohnM]

John will be going to the VA office on Aug 2nd. I wrote a 4 page letter out about all of John's problems including about how his depression, paranoia and anger play in. Took the letter to the Dr. yesterday and he said it sounds good and wanted to know if there was a form that he should fill out to confirm what I said or are we to wait till VA contacts him. The Dr. is very much willing to help us out with this.

Thanks in advance for your input.

John's Wife

[Berta]

PTSD- usually receipt of the PH can grant 30-50% as proof of stressor-

and also the vet can claim muscular damage, scarring etc--

Re :Roberson post here:

This decision has been updated by :

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:vJx05G...=3&ie=UTF-8

and

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:NCgJ3...=2&ie=UTF-8

and:

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14...04/04-10131.htm

I will check the older hadit post- there has been much discussion on this case here-

But I suggest you first read Bell V. Derwinski, 2 Vet App 611 (1992)

to see if the constructive notice of Bell (July 21,1992) applies to your claim-

if you are claiming CUE.

I won a cue a few years back- my present CUE had to account for Bell-

in it I already presented them with evidence (from late 1992 to 1995 )to show it is within the

constructive rule limits.

The older CUE- satisfied the three prong CUE criteria:

Final VA decision,

Legal error, proven

Manifestedly different outcome but for CUE-(in other words what they mean in the regs is that more retro would be sent due to proven CUE)

They made a legal error in a 1998 final decision,

I sent them this decision, one page

I sent the legal proof of the error, one page

they sent me about 39,000 bucks- manifestly different outcome-

I say keep these CUE claims as short as you can-and focus solely on their legal error.

[john999]

Rocky

If the C&P doctor said "PTSD is conceded" I think you are in the clear. I have heard over and over that even combat vets with awards still need a stressor letter, but if the VA is conceding PTSD then I guess I would not trouble myself about it.

[Berta]

I sure would think so---absolutely!

I think some of our Nam vets here would say-that each and every year-however-was the worse year of that war-

1968 WAS a rough one though-Tet offensive-lots of other stuff-

[john999]

I think if you have a purple heart the VA concedes the stressor no questions.

[Patrick428]

Sorry it double posted for some reason

Patrick

Edited August 16, 2006 by Patrick428

[Patrick428]

I have always been an advocate of writing a stressor letter regardless of whether you have a Purple Heart, CAR. CIB, or any other combat awards. I say this not to make a veteran do more work when maybe it is not necessary, but most military records do not contain all the facts as it pertains to you the individual. You can acquire after action reports, but those only contain the elements of a units operations, time frame, attached units, and the number people killed and wounded. It does not say Cpl So-in-So was nearly killed by a mortar round.

Having said this, I would suggest writing a stressor letter anyway. Aproximately 99% of all veterans who make claims will end up in a C and P eventually, and having a stressor letter or self report that was either sent to your VSO, VARO, or one that you merely hand to the examiner may make the difference between a 50% rating and a 70% or 100% rating. It was always nice to get such a self report from a veteran during a C and P because it would give me some insight into the workings of a veterans problems. Of course the stressor letter or self-report was matched against the veterans military file, but it gave additional information to assist me in determining the severity of the stressor(s).

Of course there were those 1 out of 100 stressor letters where a guy held off a NVA Battalion single handedly and later was recomended for a CMH, but turned it down "because I was only doing my duty" or "I was in black ops and cannot tell you about and there is no record of it either." That is why I suggest writing one and making it as accurate and truthful as possible including dates and times and back it up with some reliable information. In the end it will go a long way in producing the appropriate rating.

Patrick