Missing Records

[alan]

Hello everyone. I am new to this board. I was in the Army and worked as a Neuro-Psychiatric-Specialist from 1966 to Aug of 1968. I suffered from Mental Depression and Panic attacks. I worked on a combative psychiatric unit and we evaluated the men from Viet Nam, that is, whether they could return to Viet Nam or back to the States. I sarted to get very depressed and anxious. Not sleeping and even having suicidal thoughts.

I was very paranoid of the Psychiatrists and grew to fear them as they had the power to send you to Nam. As medics on the unit, you were rated for job performance, and if you were found to be performing poorly you most likely sent to Nam. This happened several times. I was called into the office 2 or 3 times regarding my behavior. I did what I could to not be taken off of the unti.

I was never told about service connection disability when I was discharged. Not until the year 2000 did I find out about it.

I am filing for Depression and Panic Disorder. The VA has refused to have one of their Pcychiatrists examin me. On May 23 of this year I met with the BVA for my hearing. The attorney from the BVA seemed sympathetic to my case. My VFW rep told her that I was to be evaluated by an independent Psychologist who would present to the VA an evaluation report. As of a week ago the report was sent to my representative and to the VA.

The purpose of the report was to offer a professional opinion which hopefully would help my case. The report was sympathetic for my case. He agreed with the condition of Depression, Panic attacks and Bi- Polar.

I understand that a variety of things could happen.

My question. Can an independent report help my case ? This has been a long long process and I know I am not done with it. Thank you for reading this.

Alan

[alan]

mssoup- that was EXCELLENT advise-

and I like the part -staying ahead of them-

If a veteran can anticipate anything weak in their claim and combat that early on,

or anticipate what the denial could potentially be based on, they can be way ahead of the game in gathering evidence .

I think one problem with my claim is that- there is so MUCh medical evidence to support it-

so they just choose not to read any of it-

but still I do not regret what I did-

I focused solely on the initial denial and satisfied exactly what they needed under reasons and bases--2 years ago.

But so much medical evidence revealed itself since then-

you would think they would read the IMOs and then they could ignore the rest of it- but they haven't yet- well maybe they did-I got a Senate inquiry last week-on my claim.

Your great advise here is certainly going to help others out there in hyperspace!

PS- and yes C & P s and "expert" VA doc opinions can certainly often be knocked down if they go against the claim.

A vet can find holes in these opinions and even substantial medical information that makes them invalid.

I recently found out about the so called VA math. I was shocked to see that they have gotten away with this.

Can you help me make sense of this. As I said I am new to all of this. Alan

[Berta]

Alan-

"The VA refused to have a VA psychiatrist examine me" this struck me as odd-

I think you are saying they never gave you a C & P regarding your claim?

An good IMO certainly can help with a diagnosis and even give a service connection opinion.

However service connection needs two things - current diagnosed and ratable disability and nexus of the disability to service.

Regardless of good IMOs, unless a doctor served with you and witnessed a stressor you had

(unless you have combat awards etc on your DD 214)

an opinion on this would have to be referenced by the doctor with your SMRs.

Usually the nexus (link) to ones service has to be proven by medical or some other type of documented evidence- whether mental or physical issue.

Do you have all of your service medical records?

An IMO doc usually needs the whole nine yards in order to render a good opinion.