Help With New? Claim

[JohnnyBGood]

Fogive me if I'm not posting this properly, I'm a newby here.

I am a Vietnam Era Veteran of the Navy. I was injured while in the service, I crushed a disc in my back and I have a fairly bad hearing loss.

At the time that I crushed the disk in my back I went to sick bay and the corpmen refused to send me for further examination or treatment. No x-rays or any doctor was ever seen about this. At this timethere were many servicemen trying to get out of the Navy by feining back injurys.

It wasn't untill about a year later that I was in the naval hospital in San Diego for bleeding ulcers I underwent an upper GI and the radiologist that was reading the xray results questioned me about my " Back injury" but he wouldn't elaborate about what he found. I after that I requested a copy of the radiologist report and had it sent to a civilian doctor so he could tell me what the radiologist found. I was told that he found a badly damaged disc inbetween my T10 &11 vertibrae. At the time this didn't bother me so I just let it slide.

I fullfilled my enlistment and was discharged honorably. no claim was filed... Fast forward to 1990 or so. I was begining to have a bit more problems with my back and I decided to get it checked out by the Doctor , I was told that the T10 & 11 vertibrae were naturally fused together due to the disc disintegrating. Since that time I have had increasing problems with my back. more damaged discs, osteoarthritis,and bone spurs.

In 1995 or so I went in and filed a claim for my back and also for stomach and throat ulcers.

The VA denied this claim saying they could find nothing in my medical records about the back injury or the stomach problems.

They also sent me in for an examination and the Doctor could not find any problems with either my back or my stomach.

I was able to work then so I didn't appeal the decision at that time. I have been Recieving VA medical care since around 1999

Now fast forward again to December of 2003, I was nearly killed in an accident , my lower back was shattered, left leg broken several ribs broken. I had rods and pins put into my leg, knee reconstruction,

lower back reconstructed with rods pins, cages and who knows what else.

I am now disabled and recieving around $1200/ month SS disability. Of which the VA takes around $100 / month to pay for my drug co-pays.

What I need to do is find a way to reopen my prior claim or open a new one. with all the surgery on my back the VA now has MRI's, CAT scans, and much better xrays. My neurosurgeon has shon me the damaged areas that were damaged way back in the early 70's, you know the ones that were supposedly not there when I filed the claim around 1995.

So what are my options if any, I do have a significant hearing loss from working in the engine room on the ship, bad osteoarthritis, cronic stomach problems, cronic back pain from disc damage. All of these problems started while I was in the service.

Oh and another thing I scorched the lining of my lungs with steam during a mishap in the engine room, I was imeadiatly transferred out of the engine room and told I would never be allowed to work in the engine room again due to the scorched lungs.

This living on Social security isn't making it. I get further in debt every day.

Feel free to contact me if you think you have any ideas.

John

[Berta]

"It wasn't untill about a year later that I was in the naval hospital in San Diego for bleeding ulcers I underwent an upper GI and the radiologist that was reading the xray results questioned me about my " Back injury" but he wouldn't elaborate about what he found. I after that I requested a copy of the radiologist report and had it sent to a civilian doctor so he could tell me what the radiologist found. I was told that he found a badly damaged disc inbetween my T10 &11 vertibrae. At the time this didn't bother me so I just let it slide. "

This could be critical to your back claim.

However every condition you mentioned needs something from the SMRs (Service Medical records) to support or a buddy statement to support them.

Do you have your SMRs?

When VA fails to find evidence of inservice injury in SMRs-I feel it is always a very good idea to get them and read the SMRs yourself.I have good friend who was a Navy Corpman for many years.He said they were trained to document everything in SMRs- even during combat situations still they had to carefully document inserice injuries. There might well be something in the SMRs to support the back claim.

The lung injury should be there and you should claim any condition you have today that this might have caused.

"My neurosurgeon has shon me the damaged areas that were damaged way back in the early 70's, you know the ones that were supposedly not there when I filed the claim around 1995." This too is critical infomation to support your back injury claim.

You need to contact your unit- try to find them on line and see if you can find anyone who remembers that you injured your back. Your ship might even have a web site and even a roster going back to the Vietnam Era.

The medical evidence seems to strongly reveal back injury most likely from your service -however the VA needs proof of how you hurt your back.

You can pbtain your SMRs by going to:

http://www.archives.gov/ and clicking on the military record section.

You have apply with the SF 180 form right on line but you will need to print out to bar coded thing- to sign, keep copy of and mail to where the SF 180 directs you- takes about 4-6 weeks.

The SMR might have some support for your claims- hard to know-

I never believe the VA reads them carefully.

I have read too many SMRs myself from vets who were told by VA the SMRs were silent for medical treatment or injury-yet a crucial link was often found in the SMRs anyhow.

Also - to get a buddy statement- it is not always easy but can be done-

This has to be an eye witness account of whatever happened that caused the back injury.

The buddy should give their unit and MOS and whatever else they can tell VA that would put them in the same place at same time to witness the back injury.It could be from a CO, another sailor, even the Corpsman themselves if they can be found-

If this was from an accident aboard ship or on base, there might well be some record of it somewhere.

All VA claims for service connection require current diagnosed disablities and a proven nexus -meaning a proven link-to whatever caused the disability.

It is possible that the SSA office that filed your SSA claim might have your SMRs.

That might be the first place to try-

SSA gets military records so that they can properly decide the monthly benefit on your work history.

Sometimes they need the SMRs too-

And these records could possibly still be at their office.

[Berta]

PS- don't hesitate to re-open the back claim and add the other conditions. You will have time to gather the evidence you need as it might be quite some time before they even get to reading the claim.

Here is your ship's Home page- they do have a web site-

http://www.ussprairie.com/

I see they have a forum as well as a guest book- these are 2 places to consider getting to, to start finding corroboration of your inservice problems.

This looks good too:

http://navysite.de/crew.php?action=ship&ship=ad_15

Crew lists and reunion lists can also be very helpful in locating a buddy.

[john999]

You don't have to worry about adding new claims or evidence delaying a new claim. The VA takes so long that you will have plenty of time to add things. If you claim was at the rating office that is a different story but in the beginning you have time to do just about anything including asking for your C-File and SRM's.

[Guest rickb54]

Johnny,

It is often hard to service connect an injury or disease, once the va determines that it is not service connected, it becomes harder.

You must find a way to reopen the claim with both new and material evidence.

I sugget as Bertha has, get a copy of your active duty medical records and see just what they say. It would be great if there is something in them that refers to you back injury, and stomach problems. Once you have the records have your doctor review them. I am not sure how u overcome a denial if there are no service medical records to back up the claim. If at all possible have your doctor write a letter indicating his opinion, and an explaination of how he came to his opinion. Also remember any medical records concerning treatment for the 1st year after discharge are also valid and can be used to show service connection, ie: say a treatment for back pain within that first year...

Best of Luck

[Vike17]

Johnny,

If you were hospitalized while in the Navy, those treatment records are not in your SMR's. They are kept seperately on file at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis by facility. So when you filed your claim and didn't tell the VA you were hospitalized while in service, they have no way of knowing this. You need to make a request for your "Clinical or Inpatient records" at St. Louis. Just write to them and tell them when and by what facility you were hospitalized and that should produce your inpatent records. Once you obtain these, they should be adiquate to re-open your claim for your back injury and ulcers. Also if you can obtain those x-rays from the Naval Hospital, they would go a very long way in helping you claim.

Also you said;

"My neurosurgeon has shon me the damaged areas that were damaged way back in the early 70's, you know the ones that were supposedly not there when I filed the claim around 1995"

If your doctor from then could put this in writing, it would also help a great deal with the claim. The VA needs some type of nexus, or connection, stating that your current back problems 'are at least as likely as not" (50-50 chance), or "more than likely than not" (more than 50% chance)" from the injury while in the Navy. If they don't have something stating this, they might think it's from your recent car accident. They are not medical professionals and have no way of knowing.

A statement (an IMO) from your doctor and/or the inpatient records from the Naval Hospital would be sufficient to re-open your prior claims.

Hope this helps!

Vike 17

[Pete53]

I agree with Vike17 the only way to win your claim is with a solid Doctors Opinion linking the injury to your Service injury. The VA calls it an outside medical opinion but some get their VA Doc;s to do it. Best bet is an MD willing to do it.

http://www.hadit.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5913&hl=

You can go to this link to get pro's and cons about Dr Bash who some, including myself a really good way to win a claim for someone who has been out of the service awhile if they really have a claim in the first place.

Good Luck