My husband died in motorcycle accident

[page1006]

My husband was a veteran of the Gulf War Era. He served in the U.S. Army from January 2004 to January 2008, including a tour of duty in Iraq from January 12, 2006 to February 17, 2007and, then, reactivated for additional active duty from January 4, 2009 to January 29, 2009. He filed an original disability claim that was received on July 31, 2009. He was also previously seen in SWS in October of 2007 along with being enrolled in the Army Substance Abuse Program. My husband was honorably discharged. 

Decision:

1. Service connection for post traumatic stress disorder, with alcohol and drug abuse and dependence is granted with an evaluation of 10 percent, effective January 30, 2009.

2. Service connection for migraine headaches was denied.

3. Service connection for chronic strain of the thoracic spine was denied.

When my husband was reactivated for additional active duty he was diagnosed with Chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with the recommendation that he be removed from training. He was discharged from active duty on January 2009, to return home. On April 20, 2010 we received an unexpected amount of money on our account and found out that way that my husband was granted 10 % disability which he was very upset about. He planed to appeal this decision. Unfortunately he passed away in a motorcycle accident 3 days later. He passed away 3 days after his 25th birthday. I became a widow and a single mom at the age of 25. My son was 18 months old at the time. 

He purchased the motorcycle in March of 2010 and died in April of 2010. I am convinced that my husband experienced an episode right before the fatal accident. He died 0.3 miles away from his mother's house. He moved to that house when he was 15. He was very intelligent and knew those streets very well that's why I don't believe that what happened that day was just an accident. Witnesses reported observing the motorcycle being operated in a reckless manner. He was riding on the rear wheel only prior to the intersection. He was wearing a helmet but the helmet was not properly fastened. The investigation indicated that excessive speed and reckless driving on my husband's part contributed to the crash. There was no alcohol or drugs found in his system.

My husband was a very cautious driver before his deployment to Iraq. After he returned from Iraq he seemed to always be looking for that "adrenaline rush." I was scared to be in the car with him after he came back home. He almost killed us twice. He also started drinking and driving which worried me a lot. He was a medic in the military and experienced numerous incidents involving direct fire, explosions, mortars etc. as well as his vehicle/ convoy getting hit with IED's on 2 occasions etc.

I submitted a new claim in 2010 with the help of the American Legion in DC. The claim was denied. In 2013 I appealed the claim and went in front of a judge and now I am just waiting on a decision to be made. I recently found a video of him recording himself while drinking and driving. In the video he is seen speeding on the German Autobahn while holding a big can of beer in his hand. I was wondering if it would hurt or maybe help my case if I submit the video to the Board of Appeals. I was told I could still submit more evidence if I chose to do so. I also would like to submit a new statement if possible since my first statement was written during a hard time in my life. I didn't give it much thought since I was going through a lot at the time. 

I had no idea at the time of the accident how many soldiers died in noncombat motor vehicle crashes after returning home. I read somewhere that men who served in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan have a 76 percent higher rate of dying in vehicle crashes than people in the general population. I wish I had known these scary facts before I lost my best friend. I was wondering if you guys on here, with a little more experience than me, know whether I have a chance of winning this case or not. Also, would like to know if it helps more if I find a lawyer now or if it is too late? I wasn't able to find a lawyer in my area. I would really appreciate any advice I can get. It's been 6 years now since my husband passed away. Thank you!

 

Edited May 23, 2016 by page1006

[flores97]

Ms Berta, I'm hoping a congressperson can help expedite page1006s request for her husbands cfile. She really needs to look carefully through those records, and to my understanding she still has another sixty days or so to submit evidence before the BVA makes another decision?  Without help on expediting the records, there is no way she would receive them in time. But page1006, Ms Berta is absolutely correct, KEEP looking for an experienced VA Attorney while your waiting on the cfile, that is most important!! Have you tried contacting the Attig Law Firm?

[page1006]

5 hours ago, Berta said:

In a past reply Buck said:

“I don't much think the VA will award a DIC if your hubby died from his INJURIES due only from his Accident.

But I would think a lot like you that something triggered his ACCIDENT due to his SC DISABILITY  Prior the Accident “

He is correct.

The toxicology report revealed no drugs or alcohol, so Allen V Principi will not help here.

I fully believe that your husband’s PTSD could have caused many dangerous situations in the past because I too almost had accidents a few times, when my husband had flashbacks and started to hit me while I was driving him to the VA. Now I think that might have been the reason they started to send the VA van here to pick him up.

However, he had a documented history of ‘seeing’ the enemy, ‘seeing’ his dead commander –that was a daily flashback every time he looked at his feet, and other instances when he  had to turn his windshield wipers on when he was able to work and to drive.These flashbacks all involved Vietnam, but flashbacks can happen from any stressful event.

Something   happened to your husband prior to the accident…at least that is the theory of this DIC claim. It could have been a flashback.

In the police investigation, were there any eye witnesses to his behavior right before the accident?

Was he vocally showing he was in distress? Was he saying anything that maybe a witness had heard?

Was he driving the cycle as if he was trying to avert IEDS, land mines, etc.?

Any eye witness reports might well not reveal his actions to be related to the fact that he was inservice, but a good lawyer would view them carefully.

Something triggers flashbacks.

Often a veteran cannot remember what it was that trigged them.

It is what happened prior to the accident that ,in my opinion, is the only thing that can prove his PTSD was it’s cause.

Have you ever tried to get those eye witness accounts, if there were any?

What is the status of the accrued claim?

A 21-534 is also a claim for accrued, and would cause the rep or the VA to send you a substitution form.

Your 21-534 was filed in time to be eligible for accrued. That was  separate issue and was a separate claim.

Did you send to the VA anything at all to support the accrued claim?

Has the VA ever mentioned the accrued claim at all in any decisions?

Have you scanned and attached the actual  RO denial (Reasons and Bases and Evidence list) here anywhere.

He was angry over his low balled rating....did you raise that issue in the claim?

My husband died within 4 hours after he called VA to learn his claims had not moved in months. and was very angry. The 800 rep was shocked when I called the VA back to inform them of his death,later in the day, as she was the same rep he had talked to that AM. She was devastated and regretted she had given him the lack of any claims status, earlier .

Did he have any suicidal ideation documented in any of his records?

Lots of questions I know but this is a very difficult DIC claim and I hope the accrued claim is still pending.

My accrued claim was awarded prior to my DIC and that only took 3 years.It had some bearing on my DIC claim.

 

 

 

 

Have you ever tried to get those eye witness accounts, if there were any?

 

I only sent the VA a police report I got online. I requested an official report today and the witness reports as well. I know very late!!

 

I was raised in Germany. We moved to the US in late 2007 and I depended on my husband for a lot of things. He died two years after we moved to the US so to say I was lost at the time is an understatement. There was so much I didn’t know. I didn’t even consider a filling a claim until my sister in law told me to contact the American Legion.

 

 

Have you scanned and attached the actual  RO denial (Reasons and Bases and Evidence list) here anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your 21-534 was filed in time to be eligible for accrued. That was  separate issue and was a separate claim.

 

The VA is saying that is all under the same claim as the DIC. It’s at the BVA right now.

 

 

 

Did you send to the VA anything at all to support the accrued claim?

 

I thought all the proof submitted it under the same claim.

 

 

 

Has the VA ever mentioned the accrued claim at all in any decisions?

 

No, nothing has been mentioned.

 

He was angry over his low balled rating....did you raise that issue in the claim?

 

No, I did not. It didn’t occur to me at the time of his death how important the timing was. I wrote a new statement last week and I will submit it to the BVA directly. I did mention in my husband’s episodes of anger and the fact that he hated planning ahead and his statements about not believing that he would get very old. All of it is in my original statement. I also mentioned his disbelieve that he made it to his 25^th birthday because he said “guys like me to make it to their 25^th birthday.” He made that comment one day before he passed away.  He found out about his 10% rating on his birthday. His brother also wrote in his statement that his outlook on life at times seemed pessimistic, which was uncharacteristic of the fun- loving person he knew him to be.

 

I want to submit a video of found of him speeding on the German Autobahn and drinking on camera. Do you think I should submit it?

 

My husband died within 4 hours after he called VA to learn his claims had not moved in months. and was very angry. The 800 rep was shocked when I called the VA back to inform them of his death,later in the day, as she was the same rep he had talked to that AM. She was devastated and regretted she had given him the lack of any claims status, earlier .

 

Omg that’s so heartbreaking. I’m so sorry to hear that!

 

 

 

Did he have any suicidal ideation documented in any of his records?

 

I am not sure of that. I don’t believe so.

 

Edited May 13, 2016 by page1006

[page1006]

I want to also mention that my husband died 0.3 mile walking distance from the house he grew up in since he was 15. My husband had a great sense of direction. He would mentally update his geographical position by keeping track of visual evidence. Therefore, he knew that after the steep downhill road he was driving on a a red light would follow shortly. He had taken that road so many times before. So for him to operate the motorcycle in such a reckless manner is mind-blowing to me. It doesn't sound like something he would do on a street so familiar to him. He was a very intelligent man so I don't believe that what happened that day was just an "accident." 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2016 by page1006

[page1006]

Your 21-534 was filed in time to be eligible for accrued. That was  separate issue and was a separate claim.

They are saying that there were no accrued payments. My husband received a lump sum payment before he passed away. He got the payment 3 days before he passed away. We were on vacation so we didn’t know the decision the VA made, we just saw the payment on our account that’s how we found out that he got the 10%. That’s when he got very upset. So he passed away in April and in May they stop those payments of only $123 they awarded him.

[Berta]

Flores is right....I forgot that the Congressperson might be able to get those records faster, to you. Sorry...

And although that inquiry might hold up the claim, that would be good.....

As I understand the BVA, when they remand, the claimant has opportunity to submit more evidence up until they make a decision...that is the problem.

I got on this as soon as I found out where a posthumous C & P was done, for my remanded claim, and I immediately got ahold of a forensic cardiologist, paid 1400 I think it wasm  for his IMO, and then I immediately contacted the BVA and rebutted with medical evidence, the C & P opiner's opinion. Also he was not a cardio doc, and therefore unqualified to make any opinion beyond speculation. BVA agreed.

I was playing Beat the clock because I could not determine how fast that C & P would get to the BVA, and then have them make a decision that was unfavorable....even though I had other IMOs.

http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/view.jsp?FV=http://www.va.gov/vetapp07/Files3/0725677.txt

I have been trying to find a case whereby PTSD was found as contributing to death of a veteran who was killed in a MVA.

This case was a vet killed by a motor cycle. DIC was Granted.!!!

I wonder if the Congressional inquiry can provide all of the VA medical records as well....dont know..

 

 

[Berta]

( I am having problems with my internet access--high winds at high elevation....the additional comment is important too.)