100% Temp Denied

[LIL-ROB]

Well what a letter to read. Denied 100% temp for lumbar fusion I mean this is unreal.Not only did it take a yr to get a denial but the surgery was July of last year at that ...Do these raters even look at medical records????.Then what tops it all off they worked my appeal as a new claim.I swear talk about appealing ...... Again. I need help on this? ????

[sharon]

Catch me up a little, please. Are you already service connected for your back?

[LIL-ROB]

Yes only for DDD?

[LIL-ROB]

Sorry radicalupathy left leg... sorry bout the spelling

[Chuck75]

File an NOD and appeal. Back injury claims are often denied by the VA, seeming because they can.

The biggest area of difficulty is "proving" continuity between the back injury and service.

I have a similar problem, in that my back was injured in service, the record of diagnosis only has an entry showing a "sick call"

complaint of "back pain". Treatment was not documented, and consisted of mainly aspirin, sometimes with a narcotic "kicker".

Long standing medical advice was that surgery was at best 50% successful, and X-Rays did not clearly show the problem.

Further, the long standing myelogram diagnostic test often used in the past is dangerous, in that it involves injecting dye into the spinal cord with a long needle,

and can injure nerves, with a worst case result of paralysis.

Finally, an MRI showed soft tissue injury, and the VA dismissed an "expert opinion" by a BVA recognized expert as "speculation".

The difficulty is that the scheduler % is low enough to discourage a veteran from going through the appeal process, unless it can be applied to the "60%" after 100%

rules.

[iceturkee]

i was just denied an increase for my 40 percent service connected back condition although recent xrays show the start of vertebral fusion. the reson for denial was i refused to get out of my va issued wheelchair (and i have been declared wheelchair bound) for a range of motion test. i asked the doctor for assistance to get me in and out of my wheelchair and with help keeping me stead to stand. the rating specialist said i refused a direct order. mind you, this hasn't been a problem with previous c&p exams. the flip is had i stodd for the exam, the va would have come back and said i didn't the wheelchair.

[LIL-ROB]

Sorry it to so long to reply back Sharon..But yes I'm service connected at 40%. Just had my 3rd fusion Dec 18th.Filed for temp 100% again guess I will see where it goes.

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