New Vs Old For Claims

[tugger50]

I've noticed that service people who were recently discharged or retired seem to be better staged to get good results on a claim. Some file before they retire!

I retired in 1989 and it's harder for the VA to get info they request. For me it was 22 years after I retired before I ever filed a claim. I know this as I requested blood test results from a hospital where I had surgery while on active duty and I was told all the records were sent to archives somewhere.

One of my contentions is that I got HCV during a blood transfusion at an Army hosp. in 1985. The hosp. probably doesn't know where my records are as they don't have them. That's ancient history.

I did make a copy of my military heath record before I retired and sent the VA what I had. They have requested more.

My advice to anyone thinking about filing a claim is do it as close to your retirement date or discharge as possible. In my case a lot of stuff didn't start giving me problems till a few years ago. I'm 62 now and can't work. I'm sure hoping for a favorable result.

Good luck to all.

[Berta]

Hep C ( HVC) claims are difficult but not impossible to succeed in.

Of course the inservice records are going to be critical to your claim.

http://www.va.gov/ve...es4/0731743.txt

“ORDER

Service connection for hepatitis C is granted.”

Oddly enough this decision mentions an IMO from Dr. Bash .I had just emailed Dr. Bash earlier this AM regarding something we had discussed before I found this decision.

BTW all ,the BVA decision site is still down but you can get some decisions via google.

Dr. Bash's SVR shows are available here in the SVR radio archives and he prepared two excellent IMOs for me years ago.

This was a key factor for this award:

“Finally, an opinion from Dr. C. N. Bash was to the effect

that the veteran's only risk factor for the HCV was military

service and that he could have been infected from the surgery

or the jet air gun inoculation injections in service. He

concluded that the veteran's exposure to the hepatitis C

virus "equally likely" came via the jet vaccine injectors,

Southeast Asia environment, and the surgery in service.

While Dr. Bash was not able to definitively state which of

these three routes was the most likely route, he opined that

it was very likely that the veteran's virus infection was

obtained during service. Dr. Bash indicated that he reviewed

all of the veteran's records.

The Board recognizes that while there is no objective

evidence of HCV in service or until many years after

discharge from service, the veteran's only reported risk

factor for HCV infection was his appendectomy surgery in

service. The records showed that the veteran developed an

unexplained infection subsequent to the surgery, which a

liver specialist has opined was at least as likely as not the

source of his infection with HCV. While there are two

unfavorable VA opinions to the effect that the veteran's

hepatitis C was not related to service, neither examiner

offered any persuasive rationale for their conclusions. In

fact, the most recent opinion in August 2005, indicated that

the etiology of the veteran's hepatitis C was unknown. Thus,

the Board finds that the two VA opinions are of limited

probative value. “

As a former VA doctor hi8mself, Dr. Bash knows exactly how to prepare an IMO.

I used his IMOs for me as a template here in our IMO forum.

He correctly raised, as well, 3 potential theories of entitlement, air gun, Vietnam environment, and the inservice infection after surgery.

There were no other possible etiologies (causes) for the veteran's Hep C.

Have you yourself contacted the NARA (National Archives)to try to obtain those inservice Army Hospital medical records?

http://www.archives.gov/

“I was told all the records were sent to archives somewhere.”

They probably meant sent to the National Archives.

Has VA made any attempt to get them?

If they did and said they couldnt get them, I would try myself if I were you.

You gave very good advise.

The Military in the past few years has stepped up the outprocessing system to make sure no one leaves the Mil without their Military med recs. Also the VA briefings they have, as my daughter told me- she is USAF vet)are pretty good as a start and many vets have filed their claims while still in the service, so in that respect things have changed for the better.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Berta (see edit history)