The Value Of Well Written

[Berta]

The advise here at hadit on IMOs has been excellent-I sure feel 1968Army has done a great job as to showing what a good IMO should contain.

I just posted this case for a vet here and feel that it bears it's own topic:

http://www.va.gov/vetapp04/files2/0413922.txt

A VA examiner and also a VACO doctor- The Chief Public Health and

Environment Hazards Officer provided this VACO statement as this was an Agent Orange claim for a disease not on the presumptive list.

The veteran succeeded in the claim. He had three excellent medical opinions.

What is interesting is how the BVA determined that the VA's own speicalist had not provided an opinion that covered what they required but the IMOs did.

There are often many holes in VA expert opinions.

This case shows how the doctors who supported this claim were very detailed and had supplied a good rationale as well as some medical literature regarding dioxin.

Because my initial IMos were ignored, the 3rd IMO had a VA expert to knock down.

As I read this BVA case I see how well that was done by Dr. Bash.

Point by point he took the VA opinion apart.The VA opinion actually offered support for the claim as well as negative statements and I also expanded on that too in a rebuttal to this opinion.

He also stated what the VA opinion lacked.

It based solely on 3-4 medical records.

This BVA case is an excellent one. Perhaps the veterans private doctors did not even charge for the IMOs.

Even it this was costly however, the veteran could never have succeeded without these IMOs.

[Berta]

I re-read this case 3 times. I am wrong in my assessment of it-

and apologise to you all-

I thought the VA examiner had gone against the claim.

Yet that was not the case at all-

The veteran filed this claim in 1998 but it seems his first C & P was in 2003. The VA examiner had made a "as likely as not" statement yet also mentioned that this type of cancer was not on the AO list.

There was already also a supporting independent medical opinion in the c file dated 2002.

It appears that these opinions were ignored by the VARO as they referred this case to the VACO for an opinion from the Environmental specialist 3 months after the C & P opinion was rendered.(2003)

The veteran then also supplied another medical opinion that supported the claim in 2004.

This is exactly what the VA did to my in the 1990s.

They had supporting documentation from a VA Chief of Staff Medical officer within 2 months of getting my claims.

But they went to VACO for an additional VA medical opinion.

That didnt go well at first because they failed to send the most important evidence to VACO- as well as the fact that the Chief Med's opinion had completely disappeared too.

Still it was all resolved but it took 3 more years.

I don't get it-

This veteran's claim seemed to have a preponderance of evidence -beyond even Relative Equipoise (Benefit of Doubt) years before he finally got this award.

It seems to me sometimes-even when a VA doctor supports a claim, still the raters will attempt to deny the claim anyhow.

There was also an apparent VCAA Notice violation too but this was a moot issue as the claim was granted.

The POA, California Dept of VA, seems to have done nothing positive to help this vet. The BVA decision reveals no input whatsoever from them as far as 4138s or even a 646.

Same as me- only until I filed complaints did I get documented support from my POA.What the heck do these vet reps really do----this was a claim they should have fought for but I bet they sure bragged about "getting" this award for the vet. What a crock!

[john999]

Berta

From what I have read most VA C&P exams are inadequate. A really good expert can take them apart piece by piece. The whole system of the VARO trying to understand complex medical information is inept. The people making the ratings have no special legal or medical knowledge or expertise. Most are probably HS graduates who have worked their way up in the system by denying claims whenever possible.