degenerative arthritis 20% - Moved the Football Another 10 Yards

[flores97]

Mark, giving up is what they want us to do.  You will succeed, and I'm not saying all VA employees are like that, but....be persistent! 

[MarkInTexas]

Flores97,

I took your advice, and drove on down to Houston, about two hours, and asked to speak to a human being.  While I was waiting, I filled out a FOIA request for my new C&P examination report. (I had already sent a full-blown FOIA for the entire updated C-File through Janesville earlier this week.)  After a bit of a wait, they took me back to a room and I got to speak to a supervisor.  I brought the SOC, denial on my low-balled back rating, my IME/IMO's, and sat down for a good 30 minutes or so while I scanned through my records on his computer, and reviewed my hardcopies.

He seemed shocked at the discrepancies, as well as the citings of 1977 records, and couldn't seem to find these wonderful records on his computer screen.  That's when things got interesting.  Another employee came in and said that they saw where I had submitted an FOIA request through Janesville, but that I would have to wait for quite a while because part of my file was digital in VBMS through Janesville, and the other half was stilli in hard copy format at the Houston VARO.  I asked them how that happened, and she said that it was pretty common for veterans files to be split up while work was being processed, and other portions were being digitized.  They also at first said that my C&P report would not be available for me until it was sent off to Janesville, but after a while, I guess they felt sorry for me or something, because she disappeared and came back with a freshly printed out 104 page copy of the C&P reports after initially saying it was unavailable.

Next, I asked about the 1977 records and mentioned the 89 pages of other veterans documents that were stuck in my hardcopy C-File.  The supervisor told me he would review it and call me back the following day, which would have been a Thursday.  No call on Thursday or Friday, but I'll give them time to work through it a few more days if necessary.  I asked that the VA reconsider my case, which they said is possible, but I'll watch the clock on my Form 9 appeal, and will submiit it if I start getting close.

When I got a chance to sit down and read the C&P reports, I noticed it was littered with citings of 1970's and 1980's mystery records of chronic sinusitis, back pain, chiropractic therapy, etc.  The kicker is that I was a kid in the 70's and the early 80's  and had never been to  doctor for any of that.  Then I noticed that the nurse practitioner said something magical....he cited records from the 1970's on my back condition, and mentioned that although these records were not directly available to him, there were existing "notes" in my file "mentioning the records", which he used as some of his justification for low-balling me.

I also noticed that he checked that he had reviewed the VBMS efile only, and had not reviewed the hardcopy C-File, which of course means that he did not review all of my records.  Amazing.

I'm working up my NOD on the back condition low-ball and prepping my Form 9 to answer the SOC.  I plan to have these ready in case the clock ticks down before hearing from the VA on a reconsideration.  I'm thinking of trying to get an IMO from Dr. Anaise just to shoot more arrow into their heart.  What do y'all think?

Have a great weekend!

Mark

 

Edited October 4, 2015 by MarkInTexas

[Chuck75]

Many years ago, I did find out that a face to face with VA employees that cared and had the ability to actually do something can be a great help. Unfortunately, the VA's policies and practices seem to be seriously biased towards preventing this from happening.

 

[flores97]

Mark, that's great, since you took the tine to drive two hours down to the RO, give them a week or two to respond.  Go ahead and get the IMO.  If they do not call you back as promised from the RO, do this...email the Undersecretary at allison.hickey@va.gov.  You WILL receive a response within a week, tell the Undersecretary everything you have told us, including that you were promised a callback and did not receive one, and ESPECIALLY that the records from TWO other veterans were included in your files and used as evidence to lowball you.  You will receive a response within a week, when i emailed her office, they responded three days later, and the next monday i received a call from the RO.  Heads will roll!  Please keep us updated, and Good Luck to you, if you google emails to Allison Hickey you will see that ALOT of vets have had their issues wrapped up within a matter of a couple if weeks after contacting her, you did the right thing, you are giving the RO a chance to fix it themselves, but if they do not call you within a week or so, send the email.

[Pete53]

I agree with Flores97

[flores97]

Thanks, Pete53, I really feel the Undersecretary will take Mark's situation very seriously, and take immediate action on his behalf!