Va Scheduled Outside Contractor C&p For Depression Eval

[autumn]

VA has scheduled a C&P from an outside VA facility contracted by VA. This is for major depression.

the letter from this outside VA facility states i shouldn't bring any medical documents with me as they will only review records sent to them by VA.

the letter also states their goal to "evaluate" the claimed conditions that have been requested by the VA. their examiner is "following strict instructions from the VA"

this is regarding major depression rating associated with MS.

note: i've been service connected for major depression for 24+ years.

a.) the navy listed it as secondary to chronic pain 24 years ago.

b.) the VA changed it to other weird labels over the years just after mil discharge,

now its back to major depression, secondary to MS

i'm surprized they contracted outside for this exam. i.e., they didn't do so for the other upcoming neck/lumbar C&P exam.

are these outside contractors sham-exams? what are my rights regarding these things?

tia

[autumn]

Please be advised, this is an adversarial exam. He wii try to play tricks on yo such as ramble on to see how irritated you get, to see if he can make you cry easily

[..]

i take it one should get irritated and if taken to a dark place in the mind, crying is ok, or not?

[autumn]

do you advise to take any personal non-VA IME's or wait and send it in to VARO after this exam?

[deanbrt]

Take everything under the sun, Autumn. Ron is right.....

Present it to them so that you force them to acknowledge receipt. Leave the documents with them..... Be polite but firm.

[autumn]

Take everything under the sun, Autumn. Ron is right.....

Present it to them so that you force them to acknowledge receipt. Leave the documents with them..... Be polite but firm.

i'll take the other documentation (non-VA IME for psych, etc)

was odd they requested *not* to bring any, they would have what they needed from VA. we've all been burned by that before.

its ok to take a list of issues for me to bring up, yes? i get distracted/off-track very easy due to my ms, etc

tia

[autumn]

i had the psych c&p eval. i guess it was standard. most exams are a blur to me afterwards. i took a few non-va psych evals/IME's. beats me if they will use them. i told VSO about them and he sent them to RO to be sure.

out of the blue that same testing place now scheduled a cognitvie screen. guess that is standard VA not to let you know about it or the first psych eval doctor not letting you know about it.

is this another legit screening or what is this all about.

[deanbrt]

"VA has scheduled a C&P from an outside VA facility contracted by VA. This is for major depression"

I don't like it. My opinion is that you are going to have to assume you will have to appeal when either the VA or SS uses an outside party. You need to get to BVA....