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Berta
I have been fretting here lately over the way my claims were handled for almost 4 years.
The RO just definitely verified that it is all with Regional Counsel.
Both the AO claim and also probably the CUE claims would have to be with counsel anyhow.
When the VA awards my AO death claim-the matter of their FTCA offset comes into play and they would have to refund this.Only regional counsel can handle that matter as they have the offset information and the settlement papers.
Also, in support of my CUE on SMC I sent VA a General Counsel Pres Op which fully supports that CUE claim and also told them that I had re-opened the deceased veteran's pending Sec 1151 claim when he died.
They denied the CUE because they said my husband did not ever have a Section 1151 claim pending. His claim is right in the c file with the postage cert number on it .He always told me to re-open it if they killed him.I re-opened it word for word and used his charges on the FTCA claim and the re-opened Sec 1151 claim.
He made me dial the 800# the AM of his death and both claims were at the rating board-Sec 1151 and higher PTSD rating.
His Section 1151 charges were all proven.Except they ignored one charge- lack of proper PTSD medical care.
It seems that-per the vet rep I just talked to- the claim that the VA re-opened itself in August 2006 was for PTSD -as contributing to death-that is----
PTSD diagnosed but improperly treated-thus contributing to the veteran's undiagnosed heart disease and strokes and death as a direct service connected death.
It took 5 years for us to get the real PTSD shrink to help Rod .As a VA employee Rod was given PTSD therapy by the VA employee counselor. The man didnt have a clue on PTSD.Rod's diagnosis of PTSD was from Newark VA 1983. He documented that only once in 5 years did he even attempt to go into one of the veteran's major stressors. His main role was to treat the veteran as an employee to help him perform his job.
He was psychologist and could not alleviate the veteran's stress with any medication.I think he did primary marital and alcohol abuse counselling for VA employees.His background was not in Rod's disability of PTSD at all.
This doctor did state -in an old SOC however-that "the veteran's PTSD had excerbated" the residuals from a major stroke the veteran had (sec 1151 stroke)
and he also documented how the veteran's visual problems (from as Dr. Bash stated, undiagnosed diabetes mellitus) were not corrected by glasses and the veteran had considerable problems at the VA job when these visual problems began.This is all documented elsewhere in med records too and in an EEOC case.
There is certainly evidence to support that the veteran's PTSD contributed to his undiagnosed conditions which led to his death.
By the time Rod filed his 1151 claim, we had gotten some Congressional help to get him some real PTSD help.(documented)
I had claimed the PTSD under the Section 1151 claim as still an open issue and that the lack of proper PTSD care had contributed to his 1151 conditions and thus had contributed to his death. Two years ago they said this older claim had been resolved and denied.
It seems now that the VA is taking that claim seriously for them to re-open it and not me.
This is another reason it might be with Regional counsel.I know it isnt because I sued them over the IMOs. I discussed that recent FTCA claim with counsel a few weeks ago.As he said they will not act on that for 6 months and I told him by them I expected my IMOs to be finally addressed and this recent FTCA matter would be moot.
This is good news- I think---
Everyone in the Regional Counsel's office can read.
Maybe I should pull out the evidence I have for that PTSD contributing to death claim.
Edited by BertaLink to comment
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