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

[Berta]

Jbasser is our EXPERT on IHD CAD matters.

He is absolutely correct here:

“Get your latest Echo or Heart Cath and look at the LVEF. That alone will tell you where you stand.”

3 EKGs and an ECHO were as important to my 1151/FTCA claims as the autopsy findings.

The EKGS were all abnormal and that was indicated right on top of the EKG strips. The ECHO revealed blockages and a EKG fraction.

I am glad NVLSP checked into your retro. If you had claimed IHD in the older claim, that would have triggered Footnote One of the Nehmer decision. Sounds like that award was proper.

But this sure bothers me and you too by your post:

“ 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.”

Then again I have VAOLA Paranoia particularly regarding how they handle heart disease.

Did your civilian cardio doc suggest in anyway or seem surprised at any lack of treatment the VA gave you in 2001?

Would he be willing (hopefully for a reasonable fee)to prepare an IMO for you if you need one for the hearing”

. “ If i request a hearing before RO and they agree with me, does my appeal still have to go to the BVA? “

Not if you are satisfied with the outcome.

But bring to the hearing any pertinent medical info the VA didnt consider, such as the results of .this:

“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 .

It would be great if your cardio civ doc could prepare an IMO, following our IMO criteria here because that could certainly affect the 10% rating if that is wrong. And it certainly seems to be.

The doctor could also suggest ,with a full medical rationale, in the IMO that your heart disease was not properly treated sooner by the VA, which has caused it to escalate into a higher level of disability...BUT then again I am not a doctor....and there might not even be a malpractice issue here....but if so, with an IMO indicating that , you could file under 1151.

Make sure ,if the civ doc does an IMO, he has copies of the C & P exams they gave you and has a copy of the VA schedule of ratings for the same diagnostic code that VA used for the 10% award.

Our member Stillhere, is still here with us because he got a real cardio doc.

The only real cardio doc my deceased husband ever had was a top VA cardiologist,posthumously , at VA Central in DC, who reviewed my FTCA/1151 evidence after my husband died, and after a few little battles I had with the OGC, this VA doctor concurred with my lay premise and overwhelming probative documented medical evidence of malpractice,not only on heart disease but on 3 other disabilities.1998

Dr Bash concurred with my lay medical premise on another malpracticed condition I found In 2003, awarded in 2009 as direct SC death, as the Nehmer IHD award stated as well.in 2012.This was not a Section 1151 (I could not file twice on a 1151 death)but I do not advise anyone filing 1151 to do it without an IMO.

I noticed a lot of your treatment records are from 2010 in the evidence list from the IHD decision.

This always bothers me.....by the time the VA gets to actually working on a claim,often years have passed,and most disabilities worsen with time and additional treatment records have occurred, and if the claimant does not make sure VA has the most current ones, they rate on what they have, that might be far from the current disability picture.

The Jan 2-13 C & P exam didn't consider the private records from 2010.

If you signed an authorization request for the VA to get those additional private records,(I assume they are all private records and you didnt receive VA care after 2010 ??), and the VA failed to obtain those records, they have committed a Clear and Unmistakable Error in this decision, based on, as you posted, evidence they used, which the most recent date of, is in 2010.

[warren]

I forgot to mention, earlier this year or late last year I asked my pcp at the VA clinic I go too if he would make me an appointment with a cardiologists at the VAMC. He told me they only had two and they were very busy and for me to see a civilian cardiologists. I'm going to see if this is in my notes. The blue button only shows 2013's, how do i get 2012 notes? I do have copies of the C&P results.

GOD BLESS

[jbasser]

What VAMC do you belong to. You may have to go and get the records.

If it is Huntington, Ask them to send you to Lexington to see Dr Booth. He is a darn good Cardiologist and he is associated with the University of KY.

J

[john999]

You can get chemical stress test if you can't take the walking test. I could not take the walking test due to bad feet from PN. The VA set up both stress tests for me via my PCP. If you have a good PCP they can get things done at the VA. If you have an Azzhole they will do nothing for you. For a VA doctor to tell you to go outside the system to see cardiologist ought to be enough to get that PCP fired even if it is true. The VA is mandated to provide "world class" health care for us. We know this is a joke, but I like to try and get them to live up to 25% of that mandate. The only way to find out for certain about heart blockage is the heart cath according to my private cardio. I am rated 60% for cad and I use the busiest VA hospital in the USA. I have never seen a cardio either, but tests were enough to win my appeal. My C&P was done by an nurse who was training another nurse how to really screw up a heart C&P.

John