Evans Army hospitial

[Havalina]

In August of this year I was sent to Evans Army Hospital for a neuropsych eval. It was one of the atrocious evaluations that I have experienced. Not only did the examiner provoke me to where I lost it during the evaluation. On her report she blatantly lied and then went on to accuse me of symptom exaggeration. I filed a med board complaint against the doctor, after it was reviewed by another and independent psychologist and he confirmed that there was enough evidence to substantiate a claim.

This was not my first neuropsych eval, as I am service connected for a TBI. There have been several articles recently published about the wide spread misconduct at Evans Army Hospital at Ft. Carson. Several members of the Senate have requested that the Army OIG conduct an investigation. I was a veteran and not active duty when I was sent down there.

I am posting the article's links and the letter from the Senate. If you have had issues with the mental behavioral staff at Evans Hospital. Please contact Senator Bennett's office 303-455-7600, I would like for the VA OIG to also open up an review. I talked to them in August and the will not look at individual complaints for VA.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/11/04/454675053/lawmakers-call-for-army-to-investigate-misconduct-discharges-of-service-members

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/10/28/451146230/missed-treatment-soldiers-with-mental-health-issues-dismissed-for-misconduct

I normally would not put something like this out, but if they did to me and the folk's in the article. How many others have the screwed. I am also asking that the VA start to recording C&P EXAMS.

Thanks

Havalina

 

 

Edited November 24, 2015 by Havalina
tbi spelling issues

[Sgt. Wilky]

I have found Senator Bennett's help in other areas unrelated to veteran's issues to be extremely unhelpful. I certainly hope he shows a little more sophistication and initiative in his helping of Colorado's and our nation's veterans. Good for you for staying on top of it and fighting for what is right on your behalf.

Semper Fi,

Sgt. Wilky

Edited November 23, 2015 by Sgt. Wilky
Ogg say spelling for dummies.

[Vync]

Havalina,
Congratulations for going the extra mile for your claim. In some cases, the C&P doctors may try to push buttons to confirm certain responses for certain conditions, but forget common courtesy and end up being a bunch of a-holes.

Problems like you experienced are more widespread than you would believe. Some docs are pro-veteran and others are clearly not. I'm sorry you had to go through that experience, but it is great that the VA rater accepted the other doc's evidence in your favor. This is called relative equipoise. If the evidence is equally for and against, the raters are supposed to find in favor of the veteran.

[Sgt. Wilky]

Havalina,
Congratulations for going the extra mile for your claim. In some cases, the C&P doctors may try to push buttons to confirm certain responses for certain conditions, but forget common courtesy and end up being a bunch of a-holes.

Problems like you experienced are more widespread than you would believe. Some docs are pro-veteran and others are clearly not. I'm sorry you had to go through that experience, but it is great that the VA rater accepted the other doc's evidence in your favor. This is called relative equipoise. If the evidence is equally for and against, the raters are supposed to find in favor of the veteran.

The highlighted, bolded, and underlined term in Vync's post is exactly what the BVA stated in my case and underhandedly chastised the VARO for not weighing in several of my claims. Let's all hope that the evidence will be "enough" for the VA to adjudicate fairly and precisely for Havalina's claim; and, that what Vync said about the the C&P doctors just trying to confirm responses is correct! (Wow, I must be pretty optimistic today. WTH is wrong with me?)

[Vync]

The highlighted, bolded, and underlined term in Vync's post is exactly what the BVA stated in my case and underhandedly chastised the VARO for not weighing in several of my claims. Let's all hope that the evidence will be "enough" for the VA to adjudicate fairly and precisely for Havalina's claim; and, that what Vync said about the the C&P doctors just trying to confirm responses is correct! (Wow, I must be pretty optimistic today. WTH is wrong with me?)

Same here. I had a couple of claims where the doc said they could not opine either way without resorting to mere speculation. Won them via relative equipoise, but I did have a lot more evidence for than against and the VA C&P doc did not want to admit it.

Optimistic? Lol, that's good for a Monday!

[Havalina]

I will be just fine with my claim once it gets in front of a bva judge. I have followed this site and vbn for about two years, and there is one reoccurring theme. The va cherry picks the information that it wants and ignores the rest. The va absolutely does not want any C&P exam recorded. If the interview portion of my neuropsych exam would have been recorded, the psychologist would definitely loose her license. I hope the Senator Bennett's office gets more than a few phone calls, and that forces him to do something on the VA side.

I'm getting pretty tired of the VA saying that the system is non adverserial especially when it comes to veterans who suffer from PTSD and TBI's. Lets face it we are not playing with a full deck. Anyway enough of my rant, the reason that I posted this thread is because the actions at Evans Army hospital far and above the typical C&P exam bs. These are mental health care providers who are creating a level of mistrust in a population that is smoking themselves at a rate of 22 per day. When I go into a C&P exam, I do not expect sympathy but I do expect a certain level of professionalism. Lastly, virtually all of us are combat vets, after experiencing what I did. I am amazed some kid in crisis has not smoked several of them.

[Vync]

I will be just fine with my claim once it gets in front of a bva judge. I have followed this site and vbn for about two years, and there is one reoccurring theme. The va cherry picks the information that it wants and ignores the rest. The va absolutely does not want any C&P exam recorded. If the interview portion of my neuropsych exam would have been recorded, the psychologist would definitely loose her license. I hope the Senator Bennett's office gets more than a few phone calls, and that forces him to do something on the VA side.

I'm getting pretty tired of the VA saying that the system is non adverserial especially when it comes to veterans who suffer from PTSD and TBI's. Lets face it we are not playing with a full deck. Anyway enough of my rant, the reason that I posted this thread is because the actions at Evans Army hospital far and above the typical C&P exam bs. These are mental health care providers who are creating a level of mistrust in a population that is smoking themselves at a rate of 22 per day. When I go into a C&P exam, I do not expect sympathy but I do expect a certain level of professionalism. Lastly, virtually all of us are combat vets, after experiencing what I did. I am amazed some kid in crisis has not smoked several of them.

I can personally tell you that cherry picking resulted in numerous claim denials that I had overturned both at the BVA and the RO level.

If the system was non-adversarial, we would be able to interact directly with raters and help them not overlook key evidence, record our examinations, etc... The current system is practically all behind closed doors. Like the scandals at the Pheonix VAMC, the VA tries to do their best at sweeping the truth under the rug.