Please Help-Time Is Running Out

[warren]

My RO denied my NOD that they received 01/10/2012..I disagreed with their 10% award for IHD, stating that i should have received 30%, this is nehmer claim back to sept 11, 2002, I did receive retroactive pay on the 10%. I received their denial letter on the 30%, Nov 15, 2013, telling me i had 60 days from the date of their letter to appeal their decision. They sent me a VA form 9 to appeal to the BVA. They said i could have a hearing before they sent my case to the BVA. They told me not to delay filing my appeal if i request a hearing, because my request for a hearing does not extend the 60 days. If i request a hearing before RO and they agree with me, does my appeal still have to go to the BVA? The reason i'm asking, is that i don't want my appeal to go to BVA and sit their for 2 years, if the new info will change the ro's mind and they award me 30%. I had original C&P on Nov. 3, 2010 and NOD C&P on jan 28,2013. Today Dec. 3, 2013, i had exam with one of the best civilian cardiologists in my area. He spent quite a bit of time with me. gave me Electrocardiogram and other test. Got a big surprise, I have had a heart attack in the past (didn't know i had one), I have problems with electrical activity in my heart, heart beat is low, i have to wear heart monitor, and was giving nitro. Tomorrow i go in for stress test and i will walk the tread mill (VA wouldn't let me walk tread mill). In the year 2001, i had a heart cath showing two blockages of 55% and two of 40%. He says that most likely, from his 40 years of experience, I will have blockages needing open heart surgery or stents. I don't know why the VA didn't find this. Please, i need some advice on what to do since my 60 days will be up 1/15/2014. Is what the cardiologists has already found and if the stress test shows i need by-pass or stent is this considered IHD?

GOD BLESS

[jbasser]

Warren, get you an attorney right now. Tommorrow. Call Bergmann Moore . The VA cant deny a NOD they can reject one if your late on time.

Get an attorney. I see a Cue here.

J

[warren]

jbasser,

I'm sorry, i was in such a hurry to get this out, i used the wrong terminology. They did not deny my NOD, they denied my entitlement to an initial evaluation higher than 10% for ihd. what i need to know, is todays info from cardiologists and if the stress test tomorrow shows i need by-pass surgery or stents qualify for ihd at a higher percentage. sorry i misled you.

GOD BLESS

[63SIERRA]

who found the blockages in 2001

[warren]

63 SIERRA

A DIFFERENT CIVILIAN CARDIOLOGISTS.

[Berta]

Did you contact NVLSP when you filed this claim?

agentorange@nvlsp.com

(NVLSP won the Nehmer decision and we Nehmers are all part o the original Nehmer class action case that there pro bono lawyers won).

“this is nehmer claim back to sept 11, 2002, I did receive retroactive pay on the 10%.”

The IHD ratings changed sometime prior to the new IHD regs.

VA rated my husband under Nehmer at 30% IHD, from1988 to 1994 (date of his death) and the rating would have been higher if he had lived long enough for the newer ratings to kick in.

I need to dig my AO IHD claim out to find the dates of the older IHD rating regulations.....

The IHD caused his death. VA had already admitted to negligence as well, as cause of his death due to never diagnosing his IHD properly.(FTCA and Section 1151 38 USC.)

“Got a big surprise, I have had a heart attack in the past (didn't know i had one), “

Yeah ,I got that surprise too when I got my husband's med recs from VA and an ER certificate (he had collapsed on the job at VA) revealed to me that the diagnosis they gave him that day medically was absurd when I saw the EKGs etc.I filed for FTCA and re opened his 1151 claim.

Th medication they prescribed continued for the next 6 years and it also contributed to his death because it compromised his heart disease and HBP meds and additionlly caused him to have numerous strokes., due to atherosclerotic clotting.rom the malpracticed heart disease.

“ In the year 2001, i had a heart cath showing two blockages of 55% and two of 40%. He says that most likely, from his 40 years of experience, I will have blockages needing open heart surgery or stents. I don't know why the VA didn't find this.”

“Please, i need some advice on what to do since my 60 days will be up 1/15/2014. Is what the cardiologists has already found and if the stress test shows i need by-pass or stent is this considered IHD? “

Yes ,this would be,in my opinion, more than likely a result from your SC IHD. But I am not a doctor,

however

“is this considered IHD? “

I do feel well qualified by personal experience to say this could potentially be considered a result,as well,

of malpractice,if in 2001, and based on what you posted here, if the VA did not take adequate medical steps to prevent further heart disease.

That would depend on all successive treatment records, EKGS etc from the VA ,to include any ECHO they did, and if you do need stents and bypass surgery

Are you able to scan and attach here the Nehmer decision?

(cover the personal info first as to name, address, C file number)

I would contact NVLSP first,if I were you, and then ,as Jbasser said, . “I see a Cue here. “

That is quite possible. I had to get the Nehmer Phila VA to CUE themselves on my initial Nehmer decision.

They fixed it in 3 weeks,after their first decision . That template is here in our CUE forum.

Do you have the copy of the actual C & P results?

[Berta]

Current IHD regs:

7006 Myocardial infarction:During and for three months following myocardial infarction, documented by laboratory tests100

Thereafter:With history of documented myocardial infarction, resulting in:Chronic congestive heart failure, or; workload of 3 METs or less results in dyspnea, fatigue, angina, dizziness, or syncope, or; left ventricular dysfunction with an ejection fraction of less than 30 percent100

More than one episode of acute congestive heart failure in the past year, or; workload of greater than 3 METs but not greater than 5 METs results in dyspnea, fatigue, angina, dizziness, or syncope, or; left ventricular dysfunction with an ejection fraction of 30 to 50 percent60

Workload of greater than 5 METs but not greater than 7 METs results in dyspnea, fatigue, angina, dizziness, or syncope, or; evidence of cardiac hypertrophy or dilatation on electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, or X-ray30Workload of greater than 7 METs but not greater than 10 METs results in dyspnea, fatigue, angina, dizziness, or syncope, or; continuous medication required10

The RO has assigned a 30 percent disability rating for the
veteran's service-connected cardiovascular disorder under
the provisions of Diagnostic Codes 7005 and 7017 of the VA's
Schedule for Rating Disabilities, 38 C.F.R. Part 4.
Diagnostic Code 7017 provides for a 100 percent schedular
disability rating for one year following coronary artery
bypass surgery; thereafter, the disability should be rated
as arteriosclerotic heart disease under Diagnostic
Code 7005, with a minimum rating of 30 percent. Diagnostic
Code 7005 provides for a 100 percent schedular disability
rating for arteriosclerotic heart disease during and for six
months following acute illness from coronary occlusion or
thrombosis, with circulatory shock, etc. After six months,
a 100 percent schedular disability rating is still
appropriate with chronic residual findings of congestive
heart failure or angina on moderate exertion or more than
sedentary employment precluded. A 60 percent rating is
provided following a typical history of acute coronary
occlusion or thrombosis as above, or with a history of
substantiated repeated anginal attacks, where more than
light manual labor is not feasible. Finally, a 30 percent
rating is appropriate, following a typical coronary
occlusion or thrombosis, or with a history of substantiated
anginal attacks, where ordinary manual labor is still
feasible. (Note--authentic myocardial insufficiency with
arteriosclerosis may be substituted for occlusion).

http://www.va.gov/vetapp92/files2/9218978.txt

These are the current IHD regs:

“7006 Myocardial infarction:During and for three months following myocardial infarction, documented by laboratory tests100

Thereafter:With history of documented myocardial infarction, resulting in:Chronic congestive heart failure, or; workload of 3 METs or less results in dyspnea, fatigue, angina, dizziness, or syncope, or; left ventricular dysfunction with an ejection fraction of less than 30 percent100

More than one episode of acute congestive heart failure in the past year, or; workload of greater than 3 METs but not greater than 5 METs results in dyspnea, fatigue, angina, dizziness, or syncope, or; left ventricular dysfunction with an ejection fraction of 30 to 50 percent60

Workload of greater than 5 METs but not greater than 7 METs results in dyspnea, fatigue, angina, dizziness, or syncope, or; evidence of cardiac hypertrophy or dilatation on electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, or X-ray30Workload of greater than 7 METs but not greater than 10 METs results in dyspnea, fatigue, angina, dizziness, or syncope, or; continuous medication required10 “

But I don't have a date the regs changed so I wonder if the Nehmer people used the wrong regs in Warren's decision.