hypertension Bva appeal

[Drillserg63]

had bva hearing for a appeal. For a appeal from 2011. With 2 positive nexus letters and one negative. Lawyer asked judge if there was anything else that we could provide to substantiate the claim. He said no. The judge said I was a credible witness and that I had very significant evidence. Appeal is for hypertensive heart disease secondary to service connected hypertension. When the c&p Dr changed my diagnosis to valve disease and the dro denied. My private Dr since has provided a nexus letter saying I do have hhd and it is more likely than not related to hypertension. I even sent the dro my progress notes which says hhd without heart failure and an icd code. He put in the SOC that is not a diagnosis. My attorney told the judge this is an error on Va part. The first c&p Dr wrote in his opinion that the subsequent condition hhd is at least as likely as not related to hypertension because medically there is a pathological relationship. The diagnosis hypertension because they are the same condition just named differently. Seems the dro just found an examiner to support the denial and totally over looked my positive evidence. Heck he didn't even mention the 2 positive nexus in the soc

[DevilDog12]

Sorry to hear that!  I got a response that same day, and a call from Philadelphia RO yesterday telling me that my claim was completed.

[Chuck75]

10 hours ago, Berta said:

"Seems the dro just found an examiner to support the denial and totally over looked my positive evidence. Heck he didn't even mention the 2 positive nexus in the soc"

Your lawyer is a good one. That is definitely a Clear and unmistakable error,as to the lack of mention of the nexus letters.

I am concerned that this issue has cropped up here lately---it does seem to me ( and I speak from personal experience with this) that RO employees do influence the examiners.They withheld critical evidence from one C & P doc I had years ago and more recently refused to even consider a report from the Strategic health Team, at VA Central and didn't allow the examiner to see it ( or he did see it but they manipulated him)

until I filed CUE, days after the denial,  which they reversed on, as denial to award,  right away.

I cannot understand why the notable vet orgs out there do not aggressively fight over these errors and manipulations of our evidence and take a stand on this before the H VAC.

Then again vet reps get  paid whether they do a good job on a claim or not.

But lawyers have the incentive of a fee, if they succeed.

 

I have seen denial examples that force me to believe that the RO pre-decided  to deny, and then came up with supposed reasons to deny that are not based upon law or regulation.

This is particularly bad, since the average veteran likely does not have the knowledge to realize that the reason(s) for denial are totally bogus.

The question that begs an answer is why.  Is the RO just having a bad day? Prejudice? Jealousy? Direction? It's easier to deny and get credit than award?

Particularly egregious examples. As a result of in service surgery in a military hospital, physical loss of a male sexual organ. (As defined in a recognized authoritative medical reference) The organ was physically removed. Service connection was denied with the stated reason that the veteran was still capable of and actually had fathered children. (Bi-lateral organs.)

Records of an original denial disappeared from the veterans file, likely as a result of the "redaction effort" some years back. Multiple requests to physically view the veterans file by the veteran, his lawyer, etc. were not properly responded to. C&P examiners were routinely not given access, or chose to not bother. At one point, the veteran was told that the file could not be located. A member of VARO legal staff was able to locate the file within less than ten minutes when asked to do so.

And people wonder why veterans HATE to deal with the VA!

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2016 by Chuck75

[Buck52]

I believe that too chuck75, why else would they not let us veterans have our C&P Exams reports back before the decision?

I wish I had thought and ask the examiner for a copy before I left, she said she needed to type some more things in the computer...I believe she would have gave me a copy dog -gone it.  oh well hine sites 20/20

 

......Buck

Edited January 30, 2016 by Buck52

[Drillserg63]

thanks everyone for the support and advice. I used to trust the va. Now i see they are not looking out for the veterans best interest. The denial plus the things the coach was telling me made it painfully obvious they were not on my side. Just a bunch of bs

[Buck52]

They want us to get on our hands and knees and beg for our benefits as they laugh about it .

I just had my PTSD  C&P about a week ago and now its showing up in ebenny's that my claim completion  estimation is  10-2017 to 5-2018....sucks

...Buck

[chiefhouse00]

Greetings

 

In my case, I got a copy of my C&P exam for an increase in Diabetes [restricted activities and hospitalization for Ketoacidosis before the denial rating was rendered.  The RO discounted that C&P examiner's report, military hospital medical evidence, and my VA Primary Care Provider Notes regarding my claim. So, I submitted an NOD which is under review.  More to follow on that...