I Feel Like A Real Dummy

[oldman273]

You all will get a laugh out of this one. I have a claim for my knees here is what the VA says : My remanded claim was again denied as I do not have any diagnosis of any DJD or any other injuries noted in my SMR.

I may be wrong but I had to go back into my medical records from service ( I got hurt all the time) and I was looking over a document they cited but I looked and a navy corpsman his name and rank and the base stamp is on the records.

The SMR sick call records shows In his notes I had crepitus in my knees. The VA just sent their SOC denying my claim on a remanded claim that I did not have any Degenerative Disease while in service. Am I right to think Crepitus in the knees is a sign of DJD in the joints? My exam that day was positive for effusion positive for Edema negative for mcmurray negative for drawers positive for crepitus and tender upon moving my knee.

I tried to explain it to the VA examiner that when I first had my exam back in 2001 I had trouble with my knees and this guy just denies my claim based on his thoughts not my own history. With all of this said how could I have missed this? I looked at my SMR every time I have fought them and never noticed this my question to you all is this a plus or a minus if it was something you would run with?

Right now I am trying to reply and let the BVA look at the claim. I had one of the VA surgeons already state back in 2001 that it was at least a 50/50 chance my knees were at least related to my military service based on my service medical records and my history. Now after the VA had the claim remanded back from the BVA they ignore their own VA doc during the CMP exam and my own surgeon who said the same thing they deny deny deny. I did not do it caps for sounding like a screaming vet but I am frustrated. any ideas? adios I am going to walk outside and look at the stars have a good night....

[rdawg]

crepitis is a symptom of something, not a diagnosis. Was there a documented injury associated with this sick call? or were u just sore from whatever you did the day before?

I think you answered your own question by posting

I do not have any diagnosis of any DJD or any other injuries noted in my SMR

Was there a diagnosis in this SMR? Was there a documented injury? If no then you need a very strong IMO stating that your current condition is related to "the sick call" in your SMR.

I had one of the VA surgeons already state back in 2001 that it was at least a 50/50 chance my knees were at least related to my military service based on my service medical records and my history

I'm betting there was another C&P exam performed due to the remand and that dr stated "not related to military service" and the VA gave more wieght to his opinion.

My honest opinion -- you did everything they asked while you were in service, probably above and beyond the call of duty by sucking it up when it came to pain and your knee conditio nis likely related to your service. But, without a "documented inservice injury" this is a very difficult win.

With that said -- go above and beyond to try to defeat them. Never give up. Good luck.

[Berta]

Believe me, you are not alone in finding info in older records, that you had overlooked.

It sure has happened to me.

You stated:

“The SMR sick call records shows In his notes I had crepitus in my knees. “

There is certainly medical info on the net that shows an association between crepitus and DJD:

http://osteoarthritis.about.com/od/thumbosteoarthritis/a/thumb_OA.htm

This article clarifies that “Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease.”

In this BVA decision, the BVA states:

“In this case, the Veteran is asserting that he has a bilateral knee disorder that was attributable to active duty service. Specifically, at his hearing before the RO in July 2002, he stated that he injured both his right and left knee while in service, but he acknowledged that the treatment he received for his left knee in approximately March or April of 1990 was not in his service treatment records. However, the service treatment records do indicate that he was treated in November 1975 for a contusion to his left knee and he was also treated for a right knee injury in late 1979. “

“After reviewing the service treatment records in conjunction with the Veteran's own recollections, the Board concludes that the Veteran's claim for service connection should be granted. Specifically, the claim on appeal was submitted in September 1991, eleven months after his release from active duty. Subsequent to that claim, he was afforded a VA examination in February 1992 that diagnosed him with DJD of the knees with weight bearing crepitus and mild limitation of movement. “

http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/view.jsp?FV=http://www.va.gov/vetapp09/Files4/0927241.txt

The veteran had proof of the inservice injury but was awarded under the Chronic Presumptive regulations.

In your case, if the crepitus has been a chronic complaint (it seems to me that this condition would be chronic )

it is possible that a IMO doctor could link the inservice record you found to your present DJD and use some good citations of the linkage.

You stated in a different post here today:

“VARO cited undocumented MVW as one of the reasons for a denial in SSOC and I thought since it occurred on guard duty the wreck would be on there. I have my SMR which note "soft tissue injury from striking dash and light duty" . The VARO seems to point out undocumented motor vehicle accident in their report. “

:

and

“I had one of the VA surgeons already state back in 2001 that it was at least a 50/50 chance my knees were at least related to my military service based on my service medical records and my history “

If I were you I would follow PR's advise on contacting NARA

The SMR entry you found sounds like new evidence to me and should be submitted to the VA.

Did the VA ever list as evidence and opine on the surgeon's statement from 2001?

Did the VA surgeon give any medical rationale for that statement and refer to your SMRs? (then again you just found something that could help you....and the corpsman stated “injury”)

Remands.... I sent the BVA copies of all of my pertinent evidence as well as all evidence I sent to the VARO ,in response to SOC and SSOC, after they remanded one of claims,to include my medical lay statement as to why the remand C & P doctor was wrong, and copies of my 3 IMOs that the VARO had completely ignored at that point. My experience as a VA claimant over the years has caused me not to trust that my C file would get to the BVA intact.That specific claim I had ,had already been to the Seattle RO (from Buffalo RO -my AOJ)- and to the AMC and none of them could read.

Six years after filing that claim, the BVA COULD read and ,after the remand, they awarded it.

If you respond to the SSOC ,make sure the BVA gets a copy of that response and copies of any additional evidence you have, like that SMR corpsman's entry.

Send anything to te VARO Attention to and then use the initials in the numeric/initial code on the upper right hand side of any letter they send as this holds the initials of the rater.

You have some evidence that an IMO doctor might be able to turn this claim around with. Then again there are no guarantees on IMOs but one thing is for sure, an IMO doctor will go over everything far better than the VA will.

[john999]

Get the IMO! A good IMO may be able to connect all those sick calls with your current knee problems. You have not had a medical opinion in over ten years and you need to balance the scales in your favor with a good IMO/IME. I have said it many times that without IME's I would be sitting at 30% instead of P&T since 2002. I spent about $500 bucks and it was worth it.

John

[oldman273]

Thanks to all here is the short answer I put in 2001 for a bilateral knee claim had my SMR that I had multiple injuries all listed in my SMR to include the page I found the crepitus listed by the corpsman. With that said VA CMP surgeon said at the time based on my history and SMR it was at least 50% likely as not that my current knee condition was a result of my military service.

In steps NP CMP on the denial who took everything I said and cherry picked the reasons for denying the first CMP by VA Surgeon. this was a an appeal which I fought all the way to BVA which after looking at the claim stated the NP did a bad job and only used what he wanted not based on rule of law.

I won a remand and the VARO again got their University medical students we are a teaching college in my state so I went and got my own MRI and an IMO that slammed the VA using all my SMR and my continuing medical evidence as listed before and again they are sticking to their routine to try and deny the claim.

This was the SSOC and now I am sitting here looking at the claim 1 VA orthopedic surgeon 1 civilian Orthapedic surgeon and digital x rays and MRI on both knees and I am back where I started. I am not giving up I have hung with this claim since 2001 and my knees are awful. I am going to try and get an IMO this week and ask for time to reply to their SSOC with one last volley.

With that being said I have laid it out best as I could my injuries in service were all related to line of duty injuries running Jumping and a jeep wreck. That was the line I noticed in 1986 where the corpsman wrote in his exam and noted crepitus. The VA says I have no DJD in my record at all. I think with a note of Crepitus in my SMR along with all the times my knees were banged up I think it is a no brainier but dealing with people who supposed to work with us not against us I just get a little ticked off.

Any Ideas how long the BVA will take to look at the appeal when it gets back up there? Thanks and have a good day. Off to ask my Back surgeon if he would like to help me with the claim.

[broncovet]

REMEMBER: You do NOT have to have a diagnosis in service. You need EVIDENCE, not necessarily a diagnosis. Your doctor will need to make a CURRENT diagnosis, which is required for Service connection. The 3 things required for service connection are evidence of:

1. A CURRENT diagnosis of a medical condition. No current diagnosis = no service connection.

2. An in service EVENT or aggravation of an existing condition.

3. A nexus, or link, between the two above, by your doctor or medical professional.

As you can see, a DIAGNOSIS in SERVICE is not required. It wont hurt, and will likely help, but not always necessary. There could be multiple reasons why a doc did not diagnose you in service. One Example:

You step on an IED and lose your leg. The military rushes you to a hospital, and eventually you cant perform duties as you are an amputee, so you get kicked out of service. The doc who treated you, for whatever reason, does not give a diagnosis. For example, maybe he was a medic and not qualified to diagnose you. But he can report symptoms. There are other reasons why a doc may not necessarily diagnose your condition. One example is hepatitus C. In the 70's you would not have been diagnosed with hep C because there was not test back then that confirmed hep c.

You dont have to have an in service diagnosis. You just have to have an "in service event" that is documented. The doctor may have treated you, and reported symptoms, but may not have diagnosed you. However, a VA doc should be able to diagnose that you have a above the knee amputation, and that was at least as likely as not, due to the fact you stepped on and IED in service.

Edited June 19, 2013 by broncovet

[meghp0405]

is someone attempting to rewrite the 38CFR? just curious...