ptsd Contacting Senator

[Papa]

I know there has been many posts regarding this subject, but when I ask my Law Firm whether or not it would help, they said it could not hurt. I have a claim that was started 2-16-2010. I have a request for an increase in PTSD since 8-2010, I have an appeal for my Parkinson's Disease, which I'm getting 30%. The C&P was a disgrace. Now, would it help to contact my Senator or not, and what would you tell him? My stuff is in Houston.

Papa

[deanbrt]

My belief was always that my chances of winning at the RO were next to none and the faster I got to BVA the better. And so it was....

[MarkInTexas]

I know there has been many posts regarding this subject, but when I ask my Law Firm whether or not it would help, they said it could not hurt. I have a claim that was started 2-16-2010. I have a request for an increase in PTSD since 8-2010, I have an appeal for my Parkinson's Disease, which I'm getting 30%. The C&P was a disgrace. Now, would it help to contact my Senator or not, and what would you tell him? My stuff is in Houston.

Papa

Papa, as you know, I'm out of the Houston VARO also. I used Sentator Cornyn about a year ago when things just seemed dead in the water. After contacting him, the VA sent a "this is our status....same as last month" letter for a few months just to let me....and more importantly the Senator's office know that they were keeping me in the loop.

And of course, the Senator's office has continued to monitor my case, sending me an update letter periodically, and even once a faxed copy of the VA's response to his office that they had scheduled me for a C&P.

However, I have to say that nothing sped up, and I still sit in Gathering Evidence on ePeggy to this day. (I filed waaaaaaaayyyyyyy back on 06/19/2010). Most on here are probably right in that it only seems to delay things, and probably only needs to be used as a last silver bullet if nothing else works.

Now if you have a close relationship with a Senator or Congressman, and know they will personally take an interest in things, then that might be different. A Senator or Congressman calling the VA personally, instead of a staffer, or worse still....a staffer's inquiry fax, might get things moving better.

Otherwise, it didn't really work for me. You don't get an extra "push", and I doubt that there will be any increased rating just because somebody ......or their staffer.....is watching.

That being said, I appreciate Senator Cornyn's office for at least trying to see what was up. I think I have more correspondence from them than I actually do from the VA.

Mark

[rdawg]

thanks for the kind words @berta. I was torn whether to amend my claim or not. In the end I decided to give the RO the benefit of the doubt and see how it plays out, If denied, I may see if the IMO doc agrees with the c&p and file for reconsideration based on an updated IMO.

Sorry for jacking this post.

[Papa]

I have decided not to contact my Senator. After, thinking about it I came to the conclusion that the Houston RO gets so many Congressional Inquiries that they just do not have any impact anymore.

I talked to my Lawyer today and ask her about the status of my 2-16-2010 claim (from Ebenefits), she did not have anything on file for this date. I double checked, and the date is 2-9-2010.

She also said the Houston was almost done with 2009, and should be starting 2010 very soon, and yes Houston is so screwed up that they are thinking of bringing in Social Security people in to train VA people.

Papa