Seeking The Best Approach With Dro

[PayBack]

Okay Guys & Gals,

I need some advice on what to do next. My current status is with the DRO since January 06. By chance I was on the phone with a clerk researching another problem with my pay and discovered that somehow they got the idea and was researching whether or not I'd re-entered the military. This is a classic case of someone looking for the "smoking gun". I submitted additional evidence on my claim for carpal / cubital tunnel and the provider listed me as a " RH dominate pharmacy technician working @ Randolph AFB" . That's the only thing that could've got him excited. Problem is that as a registered technician, I have to maintain certifications in order to keep my registry. So to achieve this, I volunteer a few hours a month to get that documented in the event I do get healthy and return to work. However, I can only hope that he was just as studious in combing through the rest of the documentation. Unfortunately, I hoping against all hope there. The question is can I or should I request to go straight to the Board so I could get my hearing and end this once and for all. If I could gain an audience, I know 'I'll succeed. Let me know where to go from here.

Thanks!

[carlie]

My last DRO hearing was in Aug. 2004.

I have had a DRO decision be a partial grant in that some claim issues were granted

and some were denied -- the ones that were denied are word for word per the last negative VARO decision. What really gets me with the DRO also, was that most of the additional evidence presented at the DRO hearing wasn't addressed at all.

For my TDIU claim the DRO stated vet has not sought employment since 2001.

Well I guess not as I was fully awarded SSDI from Feb 2001, although at the DRO I submitted 2 local employment denials, on letter head from HR Department Heads

with names and numbers for verification on them. These denials stated exact

reason for denials was seizures and Iam S/C for seizures. Company insurance policy would not allow me to be employed for positions applied for due to being

a seizure patient. These denials were dated March and April 2004.

DRO is also supposed to address and solve any new issues brought up at hearing.

My lousy DRO didn't even make an attempt. In the DRO transcripts they try to make the vet look like an idiot with statements like, vet replied AHH or UGH but they sure don't mention every breath the DRO makes during the hearing.

There is plenty more that is not showing that DRO did not go by their own rules and regs but I'd like to not go into it all now.

JMHO

[Berta]

Carlie- I just wrote to my RO VSM asking that my prior decision by the DRO be CUED by the VARO due to a critical legal error they made on my Agent Orange claim.

I am not cueing their decision-I am asking them to CUE it-they can do that.

I already got them too do this on 3 past decisions -one was in 1997.That took 3 weeks and was resolved. One was last year-one in 2003 or 2004-

I dont mention this tactic here because it does not help a vet who is filing CUE against them.

In your situation -you might want to consider asking them to CUE their DRO review decision-

based on their failure to follow proper DRO regs in M21-1.

Send this request to the VMS and the DRO.Tell the VARO what legal errors they made in the DRO review.

My request is only 2 brief paragraphs , the exact regs they violated, and a page from the VBM.

Edited August 22, 2006 by Berta