ptsd Need Your Suggestions On Dic Appeal...

[dubsnpugs]

Hello, I have spent quite a bit of time on here the last couple of days reading and reading and then researching and researching. You all are a wealth of information, thank you so much for the guidance. I feel like I am at the point where I need guidance and reassurance that I’m not fighting a losing battle with the VA to determine if my Fathers untimely death was service related or not…

My Father served 3 tours in Vietnam (USN) from August 1965 to January 1968 (He was in Vietnam just 10 days after his 17 birthday, thanks to his loving mother who sent him off to war (insert sarcasm)). After 1968, he was discharged to deal with 2 knee injuries that he suffered, one in war (66’) and one while in Japan waiting for orders on his next tour (67’). He re-enlisted in the USAF and served with them from February 1974 to September 1979. He was discharged due to his medical needs (knees and back) and psychiatric needs. After his discharge my father spent many years in a dark bedroom, went from job to job, struggled with drug use off and on, and sometimes we would not see him for days (or even weeks). My mother stood by his side the entire time. Trying to seek help and time after time, he was pushed off as a "druggie".

Time line of events:

1990’s: In 1991 my father began to suffer severe nerve issues in his hands, legs, and back. After numerous trips to the emergency room, and several surgeries later, he was approved for SSD in early 1994. He also began seeing VA Dr.’s around that time as he was in need of knee surgery and had limited funds as Medicaid would only cover 80%.

1998: His application for disability benefits was received on September 27, 1998 for Agent Orange exposure, PTSD, Knee & back disorders.

2001: Started receiving 60% V.A. benefits and was solely under the care of the V.A.. VA denied claims of Agent Orange as part of the disability, even though he showed neurological signs of exposure. From what I can see my father never fought that ruling.

September 25, 2006 received 100% V.A. disability for his service related injuries, which according to the V.A was PTSD with secondary major depression disorder, degenerative changes status post fusion at T7-8-9, thoracic spine, degenerative arthritis left knee, and degenerative joint disease right knee.

2009: He was provided a motorized wheel chair as his back was too weak and his knees could no longer support his 160lb body. My parents lived in an old farm house that was not wheelchair friendly and this caused many issues for my father trying to get to and from the bathroom with very narrow door ways. It was suggested by his physical therapist that he should have leg braces to help him get in and out of the door ways. My mother was there to help care for him, however she has M.S. and didn’t have the physical strength to get him to the restroom and back.

2009-2012: He had a spinal fusion surgery and another knee surgery and was hospitalized several times for severe falls, one breaking 2 ribs.

9/3/2012: Saw N.P at a V.A. Clinic. Complained of headaches and had a huge bump on his forehead from a fall and she ordered blood work to be done, and sent him home as there was nothing she felt she could do for him. (Currently waiting on a copy of these reports, will have it next week some time).

9/8/2012: 64 years old, passed away shortly after a fall in the bathroom, when his knees and back gave out. The EMT arrived and he was pronounced dead on arrival. He was taken to the corners office. This EMT service had been to the house over 25 times since 2008, and I’m currently waiting on those reports indicating his numerous falls and ambulance rides to the ER, as the VA never requested them, even though we signed release forms. It was suggested by one EMT that was on scene that evening that most like was a blood clot or aneurism due to the falls and the bruises on his head from pervious falls the prior weeks, I’m not sure if that was documented in the report.

9/11/2012-End of Sept.: Death certificated signed by NP on 9/11 who saw him 5 days prior complaining of headaches. She did not see or examine my father’s body. She listed his cause of death as: A. Immediate cause: unknown, uncertain and B. (due to of as a consequence of) COPD. She also didn’t suggest an autopsy and during this time my mother was literally in shock and was not mentally capable of asking for such, he was cremated on the 12^th, as my mom didn’t have the money for a burial, and I paid for the cremation. I arrived to their home the evening of the 11^th (It’s a long way from Florida to Oregon) and my mother didn’t know her address, important information, etc. She was literally in shock. With the help of her family members I was able to step in and take control and begin making arrangements with the National Cemetery in Portland as well as filing the necessary V.A. claims and dealing with SS. I was there for 4 weeks handling it all, and eventually I had to go back and deal with my life that was on hold.

10/19/2012-VA received application for burial benefits, DIC, and pension.

10/31/2012-Received confirmation that they are processing claim.

12/1/2012-I moved Mom to Florida as she has all of $700 SS income to live off of. Tried to get her a VSO here in Tampa, and no such luck. The gentleman she spoke to said he can’t help her as it was out of his area. So basically she communicated back and forth with the Salem Oregon office from this point forward.

3/1/2012-Per the request of the VA we sent additional documentation for his Dr.’s that he saw for the past 20 years along with a claimant response letter.

3/27/2013-Received confirmation that they got the 3/1.

5/5/2013-Called Salem office to follow up and our case worker was no long employed and they could not locate his file. V.A. at its finest.

5/30/2013-Faxed all documents and previous confirmations to new case worker.

6/19/2013-I received a call from the case worker that we should have a decision soon and wanted to know how things were going??? REALLY???

8/15/2013-Received denial letter.

8/20/13-Sent medical records from a hospital that the V.A. could not seem to get, that I got in about 3 hours. Also sent a release form for them to get the EMT/EMS records from the night of his death.

Between August and December of 2013, we made close to 15 calls and could not get a single person to call us back.

1/23/2014-Received yet another denial letter and stating that they stand by their original ruling, as COPD as cause of death. (More on that in a moment).

Since that date in January (knowing that I have a year for an appeal), I have spent that time building our case, collecting medical records, reading and researching and I feel like I am about ready to submit the appeal (waiting on EMS records and missing VA records).

Here are some of my questions and thoughts….

Like many vets my father was a smoker and did have stage 2 COPD. From my understanding of COPD, there are 4 stages of it. My father was NOT on oxygen nor was he on anything but a simple inhaler. He was never hospitalized for this condition and was not treated for it on a regular basis. He didn’t have cancer or heart issue (ruling out heart attack). How can they say that the cause of death was not service related, when the cause is listed as unknown? How can they say COPD was the cause of his unknown death? Is that even possible? Can you die instantly from COPD (my findings is that most die with COPD, not from it).

Why did it take 8 years (1998-2006) for my father to be 100% disabled when it is very clear he suffered from his PTSD for decades that totally affected every part of his life and his symptoms were first noted in 1968? He has been using a cane to walk since the mid 1990’s and why did it take 10 years to get him a wheelchair and how come he was never given the leg braces to support his legs when he was trying to get from his chair to the toilet or shower? If COPD is really the cause of death wouldn’t that be service related since it was the service who provided him cigarettes in his daily rations in Vietnam? and wouldn’t it be service related if his nicotine addiction was contributed to his PTSD and his other secondary major depression issues (whatever that means)? I’m not convinced that my father died from complications of COPD, considering his issues were not breathing related, they were related from a fall that evening and probably many falls prior. How do I get the V.A. to see that? Also the NP that saw him a few days before his death and completed the death certificate was a total %$&^# when we questioned her findings and asked to have his records updated to reflect just unknown cases/undetermined and list from complications of a fall in the second line, as that is what all the medical reports lead too. She refused to take our calls on that and never responded to our written requests.

What do I need to submit to the VA to get them to see what I see? Apparently they reviewed all his records (minus the EMT records). Is there another angle that I can approach as far as him not being 100% from the start (or even from 2001) when there was no doubt that he was not employable or really even mentally functioning? I’m open to your thoughts, suggestions and opinions. Sorry for such a long post, but at this point I could literally write a book on this case as his records are endless.

Respectfully,

S. Foster

[dubsnpugs]

I actually have all of his records in a dropbox file as it is easier and safer to store them that way and I would be happy to share the link with you privately to take a look at what I have thus far, just too many pages and some of them have my mom's personal information on them.

The 1997 denial letter was for AO and PTSD, the day after the denial letter, is when the Paralyzed Veterans Associated were solicited to help (of course just assuming that), since it is the next day. I also have a letter dated in Sept. of 1998 that they received his NOD. I have nothing after that, and then in 2003 I have another application and claimant statement that gives his service history. From a letter that my father wrote to the VA in 2003, it appears that he was in the USS Castor AKS 1 (Homebase in Sasebo Japan) in 1965-1966. According to his words they toured the waters of Da Nang. In 1967 he had orders to YR-71 Subic Bay (not sure what that means) where he under went training for for small arms and coxen training (however I have not a clue what coxen training is, perhaps someone could elaborate on that). After trianing he was sent back to Da Nang and in my fathers words this is what he wrote... "I pulled boat and barge duty, on swifts we patrolled the bay and coastal on search or destroy. On the barge we pulled duty galley and boat maintenance, at NSA I pulled morgue and help dig bunkers. We never knew from one day to the next what we were doing." In late 1967 he ended up in the hospital (as I stated above) and he couldn't remember why. He was then shipped out to the USS Marshall DD676 Tacoma, WA and while on duty broke his knee. He was discharged Jan. 1968. From this letter dated in 2003 from the VA, he states he had been on SSD since 1998. So my previous dates were off, I think that he filed for SSD around 1994. Need to work on getting those records now....

[Berta]

"Castor (AKS-1) Docked to pier at Da Nang on October 7, 1966 Catamount -

http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/shiplist/list.asp#C

Danang Harbor claims have been problematic problematic, as within the Danang Harbor report by John Rossie at
http://www.bluewaternavy.org/
yet, his follow up report can help with these types of claims:
http://www.bluewaternavy.org/directexposure.htm

But evidence could reveal your father was a Brown Water vet and not Blue Water vet:
http://www.bluewaternavy.org/bluewaterdef.htm

Brown Water vets have an easier time of proving exposure to AO in Vietnam, as they went into tributaries.

"on swifts we patrolled the bay and coastal on search or destroy" Proof of that in his military records, and via MOS, would make him a Brown Water veteran, if that happened in Vietnam waterways.
.
Subic Bay is in the Phillipines..

Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Assoc. ( I am a member) have aggressively been trying to get passage of HR 543 for all Blue Wayer Veterans:

http://amac.us/blue-water-navy-vietnam-veterans-act-2013-h-r-543/

They have also recently sued the Secretary of VA."

If an IMO can reveal your father had any AO presumptive, that contributed to his death , then this information might certainly help with a AO claim.

But I am sure John Dorle will let you know exactly what info they would need to see,for an IMO, regarding the appeal, and he stated here:

"Contact me soon though, as the appeal deadline is rapidly approaching and it should be worded and developed correctly."

[Berta]

I felt I have to make one more final point here.....

The most important focus you should have is gathering all of the medical evidence regarding your father's care, and then having John and Dr Bash review it.

If they see no potential for a direct service connected death due to his SCs contributing, they will also look for any Section 1151 potential.

I have based my opinions here ,with some research, solely on what you have posted.

They will have the whole picture, to see if there is any way your mother could attain DIC.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Berta

[NemoFF82]

A coxswain a operator of the boat (driver). Most likely a boatswains mate (navy rating). Swifts or patrol craft fast were 50 foot vessels operated by the navy first for coastal patrols and then used in brown water naval operations on convoy security , seek and destroy ops, and also the transport of special operations forces.

[NemoFF82]

Look for anything in his records indicating patrol boat (swifts)....This is normally denoted by a P...then a #. So an example would be P24...or patrol boat 24. This could help you with obtaining a unit history. Hope that helps.

[dubsnpugs]

Thanks again Berta, I am working with John now to get the documents filed asap since we are approaching a deadline. You all have been amazing with the information and I feel like I am finally on course. I will take a look at the links above this evening, I have learned so much over the past 2 weeks, more than I ever thought possible. :)