Reminder that your exam starts in the waiting room lobby

[lotzaspotz]

I was reviewing 2015 BVA decisions regarding the New Orleans RO, and came across the following.  I'm on a tablet and can't cut and paste the section, but scroll down to the second paragraph above the "Order" section.  You'll find that this veteran's carriage and demeanor when she was called from the waiting room found its way into her C & P exam report and then into the BVA decision.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp15/Files2/1512277.txt

Always remember, your exam starts the moment you enter the exam facility.  If you're there for a spine exam, your posture in the chair you're seated in, in the lobby, may very well be noted.  There's plenty of literature on exams here at hadit, but I thought it would be useful to remind everyone that the exam begins upon entering the facility, not when entering the examination room.

Edited October 24, 2015 by lotzaspotz

[lotzaspotz]

i am wheel chair bound and my power chairs have been provided by the va. but i get asked that all the time. i tell them to look at my medical record.

Sorry that happens, Ice.  As if you feel like explaining yourself repeatedly on the subject.  If you ever feel like jacking with them for fun and yucks, answer their question with a question. Something like,

Why do you ask such an insensitive question?  

Why ask, are you planning on challenging me to a relay race?

Why ask, is there a new turbo-charged version available and you want this one back?

People are taken aback when you answer a question with a question.  It puts the pressure back where it belongs, on the idiot asking the question.

 

 

 

[Vync]

Unfortunately, situations like the the BVA link will be touted far and wide by the VA propaganda machine with much fanfare in order to paint the picture that this example represents the majority, not the minority of veterans.

[Andyman73]

In one of my recent exams, I saw the examiner questioned my claim for increase for my ankle, since I apparently walked to his office with no problem.  But he didnt watch me walk the eighth mile to the waiting room, or the ensuing 45 minute wait.  Which is plenty of time to relax and recuperate from the walk.

As for using devices, I always use my prosthetic inserts when I have anything but MH appointments.  I keep them in my work shoes or else I will lose them.  And I have ankle support that I cant wear because it hurts after a few hours.  But I wear it for appointments.

[iceturkee]

Sorry that happens, Ice.  As if you feel like explaining yourself repeatedly on the subject.  If you ever feel like jacking with them for fun and yucks, answer their question with a question. Something like,

Why do you ask such an insensitive question?  

Why ask, are you planning on challenging me to a relay race?

Why ask, is there a new turbo-charged version available and you want this one back?

People are taken aback when you answer a question with a question.  It puts the pressure back where it belongs, on the idiot asking the question.

 

 

 

thanks. if all the c&p docs would take time to review my records, the question would be moot. i have had plenty of exams in the 27 years i have dealth with the va. but only one actually took time to review my navy medical record beside my va record. that's a sorry state of affairs.

once i had an exam, i was between power chairs as mine was condemmed and a new one was on order. i had to use a manual chair and get a volunteer to push me to the waiting room. i had to push myself to the examning room (with my rhuematoid arthritis is very difficult). doc asked why i was using the manual chair so i told him. yet, he still wrote on my exam about the manual chair and my claims of upper body strength.

[lotzaspotz]

thanks. if all the c&p docs would take time to review my records, the question would be moot. i have had plenty of exams in the 27 years i have dealth with the va. but only one actually took time to review my navy medical record beside my va record. that's a sorry state of affairs.

once i had an exam, i was between power chairs as mine was condemmed and a new one was on order. i had to use a manual chair and get a volunteer to push me to the waiting room. i had to push myself to the examning room (with my rhuematoid arthritis is very difficult). doc asked why i was using the manual chair so i told him. yet, he still wrote on my exam about the manual chair and my claims of upper body strength.

Then, it looks like the only important question you should ask in response to their question is, "Haven't you reviewed my medical records that contain the information you just asked me for?"  

You'll read all kinds of fictionalized accounts of what you allegedly said during examinations, I know we have.  I also noticed one day when I went to an exam with my husband that the C&P is pre-typed on the screen, the examiner filled in the blanks.  I managed to get some distance behind the examiner while he was typing, and he didn't notice my looking at the computer screen that was, for the most part, already completed. When we got the copy, I read in the same paragraph that not only did my husband attend the exam alone, but he somehow managed to have me accompany him while he was alone.  He allegedly told them he dropped out of high school when he, in fact, graduated.  We also read that his tour in 'Nam was in 1977, after the war had ended.  

Makes for an interesting NOD.

 

Edited October 26, 2015 by lotzaspotz

[iceturkee]

the va certainly sets themselves up for NOD's.