ptsd Undiagnosed Arrhythmia

[m5a9c4]

I could go on and on of all the ins and outs of my fight (DIC) with the VA about my husband sudden death from cardiac arrhythmia. (I do understand all about service connection) The VA has sent me many denials, one specifically says he was never treated for cardiac arrhythmia and there is no evidence of it. I tried many time to get his complete records from the VA (he was 100% treated through the VA) and they said they sent me everything. I had given up until the 5 year anniversary of his death sparked me to try again. I decided to try directly through the sleep clinic to see if they had any information other than what the VA had sent me. To my surprise I received a CD with an ECG on it. They have typed, “Irregular heart rate and PVC’s” on the accompanying documents, some places it looks like scribbling instead of an ECG.
My question, if I get these verified that there is cardiac arrhythmia, is that grounds for an 1151 claim for not diagnosing and treating? His death certificate says: Primary: cardiac arrhythmia, Secondary: PTSD and sleep apnea. He also had hyperlipidemia. I did not have an autopsy; I was in such shock from trying to revive my husband that when they said there was no need for an autopsy, I didn’t question it.
I appreciate any thoughts.

[jbasser]

Look at the prescribed meds. DId they ever Prescribe Sotolol?

That is a Medicine that treats arrythjmias.

J

[m5a9c4]

I hope I didn't post this twice.

He was not on sotolol ever.

I am going to go back through his files again. You have given me new breath.

I don't have much luck attaching files, but I am going to try and attach a page from more than 16 hours of feed of a ECG.

This is only one of many portions that don't look right to me. I don't know anything about ECG's, maybe this is alright.

As far as VSO's, not New York and all they had was my name and I was a widow. No calls.

Thanks again for taking time.1128ecg2.tiff

[Berta]

These are some good links to interpreting ECGs/EKGs:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2214/

http://ecgepm.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ekg-braunwald.pdf ***

http://www.southsudanmedicaljournal.com/archive/may-2010/how-to-read-an-electrocardiogram-ecg.-part-one-basic-principles-of-the-ecg.-the-normal-ecg.html

****Braunwald is the top cardio text that VA uses via Harrison's principles.( For IHD)

It is so large and heavy that I am unable to scan anything from it to post here. My mailman could hardly get it up my deck because it was so icy out when he delivered it.
I was surprised to even find the Brauwald pfd on the net linked above.

My daughter gave it to me for Christmas the year the AO IHD regs came out.Just in case I needed it to help vets.

But I had extremely limited info when I interpreted my husband's EKGs for my claims in 1995 and certainly no internet or google as we know it today.
However the immediate interpretation was on the top right hand side of the strip.
But it might as well have been in Greek before I learned how to decifer it.

The scan came out well.

But this is a different type of strip than I am familiar with.I just had an annual EKG and the format for mine as well as the ones I have had from VA, for me and my husband are much different than this one. I dont see any St -T and QT intervals noted on it and cannot figure the lead chart at all.

This was done for a sleep study so that is why is seems so different to me. You will see what I mean when you see examples of ECG/EKGS in the links I posted.

When I got an IMO from Dr Bash, this was the type of medical records in the stack that I had tabbed and highlighted and gave him a summary along with the records, that built my case as to the undiagnosed and untreated diabetes I wanted him to diagnose and opine on.

I do feel strongly you should definitely keep trying to seek a vet rep and file a Section 1151 claim and have a real doctor review this medical record as well as all other records available.

If I were you I would show the IMO doctor this ECG first, any other subsequent ECGs, and the death certificate.if you email any of them for a potential opinion attached to the email,.

I mentioned but didn't attach to my first email to Dr. Bash a very brief description of some of my evidence.

He immediately responded back with his phone number and a very encouraging statement., that if I had what I just mentioned I had, it was a 'good case' ( that was for my 2003 DMII AO death claim)

Edited November 10, 2014 by Berta

[Berta]

BTW this might help you and others here....

When I received my husband's VA medical records ( what a stack)

I put them in separate manila folders marked by date.

If I needed to use them out of context,(I have had multiple claims) I copied them and tried to remember to put them back into the specific folder.As well as in the new folder tabbed for the specific claim I was working on.

I have almost 400 manila folders regarding VAOLA. I have many of them stored in my barn in waterproof totes, tabbed for easy reference.

I advise to SAVE EVERYTHING. My current claims rest on evidence from back to 1992.

I started buying the manila ones in colors and that helps too....

Green is for my 1151 pending Issue and past 1151 stuff.

Blue is for my current Cue Yourself claim.

Etc etc.

It can be VERY time comsuming to search for a record that could be misplaced in another file folder.

I write on the file covers what is in the file.

For Evidence.... I use Exhibit sticks instead or yard sale sticker, but the yard sale stickers work good too.

What I mean is I only needed one document for my current 1151 claim. Exhibit A.

Exhibit A is noted as an enclosure and I put an Exhibit A sticker on my copy of the document,sent with the claim.

Other claims I filed involved Exhibits A to Z with some sub sections such as A-1 A-2 A-3.

I used colored Yard sale stickers for some of those and then for my IMO I used yard sales stickers for my cover letter to Dr. Bash, noting what number the exhibit was.

This made it easy for Nehmer lawyers, my IMO doctor, and the BVA.

What I mean is the little colored circle stickers that are blank that yard sellers stick a price on.

My RO has never once properly read and considered my evidence right from the git go. Never.

I gear everything these days for the BVA.

I have found that once things are on any sort of good order,when we work on our claims, a lot of stress can melt away because we can find stuff faster.

If you dont have PTSD from service , I think the claims process could give anyone PTSD, so best to make it as easy as possible to deal with it all..

[m5a9c4]

I am attaching a different page so that you see that there are parts that look normal. That is why I don't know what it is showing, but I know it doesn't seem normal. I appreciate the links I will look at them.

[Berta]

It might be a good idea just to call the sleep clinic and get them to interpret this.