How Do I Get Out Of This Maze?

[Josephine]

At times I feel like quitting and maybe I should, but I can't. My case is a very long one. I filed for service connected benefits in 1978 and was immediately denied. I did not get a rating statement of the case or anything. To make this short. I decided to re-file in 2002 for service connection for anxiety. I received a penion and a denial. I immediately wrote to the St. Louis Archives and secured all of my Psychiatric Records, and a letter from The Commanding Officer, which the Va did not bother to get. I turned them in and received a C&P with a more likely than not. Being that my niece is a DRO in that Regional Office, my file was immediately transferred to another Regional Office. I waited for a decision and was sent a notice of my clinic appointment date. When I arrived at the Hospital, I was given a C&P Examination by two psychiatrist, male and female. The write up was no more than slander to me and my medical records had been changed. The male did not sign, but the lady doctor did. She stated that nothing in service bothered me. After being called a liar and a few things, I wrote to the doctor that treated me in service and sent him his medical records. He wrote back that he treated me with tranquilizers for anxiety. I ask repeatedly for a new examination, but did not get one. I am now at the management center. The remand states for my claims file to go back to the two psychiatrist for them to reconcile their difference. How much more do they need? I was treated in service with librium for anxiety and saw two navy psychiatrist and was discharged with emotional instability code 460. The BVA wants to know why I received an early discharge? I began Librium again in 1967 and have been treated for anxiety ever since. They have my doctors letter, stating in his opinion my anxiety began its origin in service, they have the letter by my treating physician in service, the opinion of their Va Psychologist and a letter from a buddy of abuse that I endured in service. The remand asked for so little, another letter from my physician, and a search of my personnel records and medical records in the event that there are other records out there not turned in. I have been at this for several years now. Shouldn't they soon have to give me a yes or no?

Thanks Josephine

Edited August 6, 2006 by Josephine

[Hoppy]

Josephine,

As Berta said, it does sound like you were discharged for a personality disorder. A tactic that has been successful involved shooting down the inservice diagnosis and replacing it with a service connectable anxiety disorder. It sounds like you have the ammo to do this.

I know a veteran who took his SMR to a VA psychiatrist who reviewed the SMR and wrote that the doctors in the military did not take sufficient history or testing to make an accurate diagnosis of prtsonality disorder or emotional unstability. Additionally, the VA psychiatrist wrote that the in service symptoms, post service symptoms create a new diagnosis of anxiety disorder which started in the military.

It is very important that this new report be based on a review of the SMR and post service records. You say that your doctor wrote an opinion that your anxiety began in service. He must say that his opinion is based on a review of the record. They will not accept the new opinion if it is based on your subjective recollections of your military experience as told by you to the new doctor. Also, the new doctor must call the current condition an anxiety disorder. Saying that anxiety started in the military may not be sufficient. Successfull claims have been based on a post service initial diagnosis or re- diagnosis of symptoms that occurred in the military and subsequent to the military and now is called anxiety disorder that either showed symptoms which first occurred in the military or was aggravated by the military.

This is probably what they are trying to establish with the remand. Did the doctor who wrote the opinion that you had no problems in the military specifically note that they reviewed any psychiatric reports when you were in the military. If not this would be another reason for a remand.

There have been several veterans who have been discharged for personality disorders and later rediagnosed and service connected who posted to the board over the last several years.

[Hoppy]

To clarify the issue of PTSD which I did not address. You said that you had a letter from somebody indicting that you endured abuse in the military. This letter might only cause the VA to investigate ways to comfirm the abuse. A letter written twenty years after your discharge indicating abuse would need further verification. The M21 has specific instructions on how they deal with unreported abuse, assaults etc.

There was another veteran who recently was dealing with a PTSD/anxiety disorder claim. The consensus was that if you have the inservice symptoms to support the anxiety disorder it will be easier to win the anxiety disorder claim than the PTSd claim. Especially, if the abuse or assault was not reported. The reason they requested your personnel file could be that they are looking for secondary evidence of a stressor in the personnel file.

[Tbird]

hoppy i believe is right it's much easier to get connected for anxiety disorders than ptsd, don't get hung up on the labels, just get the compensation you deserve.

the military is notorious for labeling folks with personality disorders, it is a complete out for the va. not that i dont' think personality disorders exist i know they do, i just think the military is a bit quick with that particular diagnosis

i digress sorry, so get your inital service connection and build from there and remember the va will almost never give you a sense of validation for what you've been through, however they will compensate you and you get your validation through therapy.

[Berta]

"and received a C&P with a more likely than not"

The remand states for my claims file to go back to the two psychiatrist for them to reconcile their differences"

Can you give us your BVA citation and Docket number-if you feel comfortable- no names or ssa or VA numbers on these but they are all on line at the BVA web site-

I dont get this.

Do you have a service officer or vet rep?

They should be pushing this reg in the VARO's face:

from 38 CFR: (Part three Adjudication)

§ 3.102 Reasonable doubt.

top

It is the defined and consistently applied policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs to administer the law under a broad interpretation, consistent, however, with the facts shown in every case. When, after careful consideration of all procurable and assembled data, a reasonable doubt arises regarding service origin, the degree of disability, or any other point, such doubt will be resolved in favor of the claimant. By reasonable doubt is meant one which exists because of an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence which does not satisfactorily prove or disprove the claim. It is a substantial doubt and one within the range of probability as distinguished from pure speculation or remote possibility. It is not a means of reconciling actual conflict or a contradiction in the evidence. Mere suspicion or doubt as to the truth of any statements submitted, as distinguished from impeachment or contradiction by evidence or known facts, is not justifiable basis for denying the application of the reasonable doubt doctrine if the entire, complete record otherwise warrants invoking this doctrine. The reasonable doubt doctrine is also applicable even in the absence of official records, particularly if the basic incident allegedly arose under combat, or similarly strenuous conditions, and is consistent with the probable results of such known hardships.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501)

[50 FR 34458, Aug. 26, 1985, as amended at 66 FR 45630, Aug. 29, 2001]

§ 3.103 Procedural due process and appellate rights.

[Josephine]

"and received a C&P with a more likely than not"

The remand states for my claims file to go back to the two psychiatrist for them to reconcile their differences"

Can you give us your BVA citation and Docket number-if you feel comfortable- no names or ssa or VA numbers on these but they are all on line at the BVA web site-

I dont get this.

Do you have a service officer or vet rep?

They should be pushing this reg in the VARO's face:

from 38 CFR: (Part three Adjudication)

§ 3.102 Reasonable doubt.

top

It is the defined and consistently applied policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs to administer the law under a broad interpretation, consistent, however, with the facts shown in every case. When, after careful consideration of all procurable and assembled data, a reasonable doubt arises regarding service origin, the degree of disability, or any other point, such doubt will be resolved in favor of the claimant. By reasonable doubt is meant one which exists because of an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence which does not satisfactorily prove or disprove the claim. It is a substantial doubt and one within the range of probability as distinguished from pure speculation or remote possibility. It is not a means of reconciling actual conflict or a contradiction in the evidence. Mere suspicion or doubt as to the truth of any statements submitted, as distinguished from impeachment or contradiction by evidence or known facts, is not justifiable basis for denying the application of the reasonable doubt doctrine if the entire, complete record otherwise warrants invoking this doctrine. The reasonable doubt doctrine is also applicable even in the absence of official records, particularly if the basic incident allegedly arose under combat, or similarly strenuous conditions, and is consistent with the probable results of such known hardships.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501)

[50 FR 34458, Aug. 26, 1985, as amended at 66 FR 45630, Aug. 29, 2001]

§ 3.103 Procedural due process and appellate rights.

Berta,

Read this with a grain of salt. My first psychaitrist, I located from The Board of Medicine was declared unsafe to practive and had to give up his license. The National level of The American legion gave me the doubt law to place into my file. My representative is in another state and he had to take disability and now I have another one, but my claims file was already at the BVA when the new one took over. I can credit The National Level of The American Legion for directed me this far.

Thanks,

Josephine.

)

Edited August 9, 2006 by Josephine

[Berta]

Josephine- the first reason for Remand is the lack of a VCAA letter-

The RO's latest and very successful nationwide stall tactic-

Have you gotten a real VCAA letter yet?

Did it tell you specifically what they need?

This is not the SOC decision- It says VCAA Notice =on it and there are some check boxes on it-

I also see that the internist's opinion- is questioned by BVA because an internist usually does not have expertise in psychiatric field- that is why they are questioning that opinion-

Have you be able to contact the Reverend?

Also- is the stressor listed the only one you claim?

"In the event the veteran provides

sufficient identifying information, it

should be ascertained whether a trainee

died as a result of drowning, at the time

the veteran was in training, and the

circumstances surrounding such incident"

I thought you had other incidents of abuse as stressors-but I dont see them mentioned in the BVA Remand-

It should be easy to find out the circumstances of whether the other trainee drowned.

Was this a close friend, and thus would give you stress at this death?

Hometown newspapers that publish obituaries would have a archive you could access.

And your CO would know if this was a death of a trainee or a "near drowning".

The "near drowning" - statement in the BVA decision-

This is not a stressor-

just like -my buddy got almost killed by schrapnel or

I almost got run over by a jeep-

I am not trying to sound negative to you about your claim-

but years of experience tell me that- based on what the BVA had as evidence- they Remanded for good cause and these are things that you should do all you can to try to get-

Proof of the trainee's death (have you accessed your unit on line?)

And the Reverend statement -the BVA requested -but that may or may not help you-

Ministers and Reverends can make statements in support of a claim but then again they can get into the same privileged conversation stuff that lawyers can- and then often they cannot support a claim-

In trauma like this -lawyers look for an "outcry"-That is very much like what the BVA looks for in trauma cases-what did the vet immediately do after they experienced a traumatic event like this-

did they tell people about it and their feelings over it right away?

Have they consistently mentioned it over and over to mental health care providers?

Can they produce documentation from others that not only support the traumatic event but also the fact that it immediatley caused a reaction and change in someone-

Can they prove that the traumatic event DID happen?

This is much different from combat PTSD-that can pop up years later-

there are reasons for that-but your situation is not like that at all-

I think that each point of their Remand should be focused on by you as you to attempt to get proof of what they want.