Statement Of The Case Is Neither

[Notorious Kelly]

I am not a fan of court shows but the gist i get is everyone in court hears something like this:

Colonel Mustard murdered Miss Scarlet in the Library with the Candlestick.
We have the Colonel's fingerprints on the candlestick, video of him entering the library, and his DNA is on Miss Scarlet's body.
His motive was the insurance money.

The VA Statement of the Case I get is more like:

Colonel Mustard is guilty because somewhere in this pile of evidence we deduced that he did it.
If you disagree, tough luck.

How are we supposed to defend ourselves against this?

It seems our case doesn't really start until the BVA because we don't have a voice in the process and there is no specific evidence listed to even disprove.

Also, because of the weight often given to a C&P, that examiner is a judge making decisions and you have no representation before them because you don't know what they are doing.

This process meets the definition of kangaroo court to me.

Is there any way to get the specific details of why the VARO decided what they did?
Can we FOIA communications between the VA & C&P examiner to see what was said?

Thanks!

[Mikemmlj]

Well said!

[63SIERRA]

I know for a fact that the CP examiners communicate by phone with the RO s on a regular basis.. Kind of a conflict of interest if you ask me, being WE cant communicate with the RO directly to clarify things or make on the spot corrections. When the CP examiner and RO rep are in thier conversation, we have no say so whatsover and have no clue what they are discussing and that is not fair. Furthermore when CP exams are done by outside contractors like VES, we cant even get access to them usually until AFTER our claims are decided. So many things could be changed to make things go faster, and more effiecient dealing with VA claims. I think the VA does what it does, and operates the way it operates, for one specific reason, and that is to to deny and slow the flow of compensation. . READ YOUR CPs several times, then have someone else read them. I have found several errors on several CP exams, not just little errors, major errors that caused denials. Also dont take everything the RO writes as being correct, research your medical conditions and you will likely find things they say, and the CP doc say are old, outdated information that can be trumped with up to date facts .

[Berta]

"It seems our case doesn't really start until the BVA because we don't have a voice in the process and there is no specific evidence listed to even disprove."

Much of the time, the best reading a claim will get is at the BVA. BVA lawyers love evidence and will read it all.

Unlike the ROs, BVA does not want a decision appealed to the CAVC,and then remanded because of BVA errors in it.

They are far smarter than the ROs.


"READ YOUR CPs several times, then have someone else read them. I have found several errors on several CP exams, not just little errors, major errors that caused denials. Also dont take everything the RO writes as being correct, research your medical conditions and you will likely find things they say, and the CP doc say are old, outdated information that can be trumped with up to date facts ."

That is why an IMO is sometimes the only way to succeed.

I think the VA should pay for IMOs. But that will never happen.Still, a strong IMO's cost can be absorbed by some comp checks the vet might never see without the IMO.

I noticed here lately that some C & P docs are using Google to come up with their medical rationale.

As we all know, there is a lot of bogus medical stuff on the net, so even if Harrison's Principles or Merck Manual (2 of the good medical texts VA has always used), contains on the net, info that would help the claim, I bet then a C & P doc will spend more time searching for some bogus medical med site to find something negative or "outdated" to go against the claim.

The last posthumous C & P the VA did for my AO DMII death claim was easy for me to rebutt myself medically and I sent my rebuttal to the BVA, stating that not only did a PA do the C & P (the remand called for a a cardio doc) so he had no expertise in the cardio-diabetes field, but also I stated it was too speculative to be even considered.The BVA shit canned it.

Then with 3 IMOs for and 2 old C & P exams against ,( and considerable medical evidence I sent them as a lay person) they awarded.

You are right. "READ YOUR CPs several times" I have always read everything I get from the VA many times.Then I put it away and give it a fresh read a few days later.

And, as I found out long ago , they can manipulate a C & P exam in the SOC and even leave out or parse important stuff in the exam results that could help the claim.

[john999]

When you go for mental health C&P exam the "doctor" can do all sorts of things to either help you or hurt you just based on the few minutes you spend with him/her. It seems the exams for PTSD do follow a script whereas if you were to claim any other mental health disorder they just wing it. Beware the exam doctor who asks leading questions about your childhood, drug use, alcohol use, police record, school discipline record and family discord. These are the things used to say you have pre-existing personality disorder, or that your current valid mental health disorder is just continuation of something you had before enlistment. Considering that most of us had almost no mental health screen before actual enlistment how the VA determines this years after service I don't know. When you enlist if the military finds you fit then just about their only fall back is to find that you have a personality disorder that explains everything since. The attitudes of VA C&P doctors astounds me. Even the doctors I have seen over the years who came down on my side showed anti-veteran attitudes. It seems to me from my experience that most of these doctors think vets are trying to get welfare. I suppose it you go into an exam as a double amputee from stepping on a mine, or IED then the facts speak for themselves, but not the total facts as some here can tell.

I think my evidence really showed a 100% rating for mental health was the right call, but since I got TDIU I want no part of another mental health C&P. Without IME's I would still be at 30% even though I was on SSDI for my MH service connected condition. I had to get IME's to get initial 70%. Then another to get TDIU, and another to get P&T. Because I had been in treatment via private sector for many years I was referred by current doctor's to other docs who did IME's for me. I don't know how many others are that lucky. The VA relied entirely on the VA exam doctor's when my claim was first denied for increase. Not until I paid for professional IME's did I get the increases I should have gotten thirty years before that time.

So as usuall I agree with Kelly that the VA is a mafia where vets are victims of fraud and abuse at the hands of fellow Americans via the VBA. The more contact you have with them the more you hate them has been my experience. I am not the hostile guy I seem from my posts. I don't argue and fight with VA employees. I just bottle up my anger, and get even by finding evidence to beat them. I do write letters to congressmen about the awful treatment I have received at the VA hospital. It does little good. I usually reach into my pocket to get the treatment I need. I am not waiting for the VA to kill me. About the only really good thing I got from career as federal civil service employee was decent insurance. This I have used for IME's, but now has become almost impossible for mental health due to rule changes to benefit insurance companies.

John

[63SIERRA]

The deception of a " impartial vet friendly process " is the guise they use to strip us of our rights in the initial stages at the RO;. They say one thing but do another.

The system is set up so that we are put at a big disadvantage in the early stages of our claims, and it takes a long time to recover. We file a claim, submit evidence, they deny them try to wait us out, with every stall tactic known to man, if that doesnt work, they shred evidence, if they doenst work, they lie, if that doesnt work, they fabricate, if that doesnt work they ignore.

[63SIERRA]

FLISS

Fabricate

lie

ignore

stall

shred

THEY ARENT DISSIN YA. THEYRE FLISSIN YA/

Edited August 24, 2014 by 63SIERRA