Vicki's Post-dav Rep-lawyers Etc

[Berta]

You are a few clicks away- VA has made this easy for you to do-

http://www.va.gov/oca/c2c_USA.htm

Tell your Congressperson how you feel about the right to hire an attorney to handle your VA claim.

[Dorothy Kansas]

We suffer the consequences of the Docter in fact when our C&P examination's are performed by NP's.

[vaf]

Dorothy, you've made a great point. Veterans are treated and/or examined by doctor wannabees, and represented in their claims by attorney wannabees. It's time to make a stink and insist that you have access to real doctors and real attorneys!

Your post about nurse practitioners (and by extension, PA's, interns, etc.) is exactly the reason why veterans should challenge the adequacy of a C & P exam when it's conducted by someone lacking the necessary professional credentials to make that evaluation. I always suggest that in cases such as this, the veteran write the VARO, challenge the C & P, and ask for another examination by a licensed Board-certified physician specializing in the area being examined and considered for a rating.

If you fail to receive an adequate C & P exam, you can incorporate the fact that the examination was flawed into an appeal, should that become necessary. That's also why IMO's provided by Board-certified physicians specializing in the condition or area being rated are so important to counter the results of flawed C & P exams.

[KennyJ]

Maybe the VSO should be the lawyers in the claim process .

[john999]

I would choose a lawyer in claims where there is money involved and lots of possible retro. This makes sense to me. So the lawyer gets some of the retro. That is no big deal since that is the way SSA lawyers do it. I think if you have a very strong case and you are not headed for the appeals process using your own brains or a VSO seems ok. It is when you are preparing a major claim like for IU that you don't want to take false steps. I know because I took false steps and it cost me time and money. It was simply because I did not know all the loopholes and the VSO had no interest in telling me. Vets should have a choice between VSO's and their own private lawyers for initial claims. What are the VSO's afraid of????

[vaf]

They're afraid of becoming obsolete.

[mssoup1]

NP's and PA's can give C & P exams legitimately. All that is required is that they get a C & P doctor to sign off on their exam saying he agrees with their assessment. I'm not sure whether it makes much difference whether a NP, PA or actual physician is doing the exam, it just depends on what that person wants to put in the report. I also think a lot depends on the age of the examiner doing the exam. Some examiners who have been doing C & P exams for a lot of years seem to have the hardest time in wanting to put the information in your report which could help you win an approval. They can sometimes be very difficult to deal with.

But, this is only my opinion from our experiences. In fact, we have filed more appeals on inadequate exams that were done by a physcian than those done by NP's or PA's. So I guess it all boils down to who you get doing the exam and how much they are willing to really help the veteran and his claim.

I think being able to hire an attorney is a good idea for any veteran who wants that right. But, I think what will happen will be the same thing that ends up happening with NSO's with backlogged claims and not enough time to spend on any one veteran. The attorneys will end up getting so many claims to handle by trying to take on as many as they can and then they will be as backlogged as the NSO's. Attorneys seem to be so busy even now that it is hard to get an appointment with one for any legal matter you have which would not bring them in a substantial amount of money. And, I bet you would still end up doing a lot of the leg work on your claim, the same as you have to do now.

Again, this is only my opinion.

mssoup1