ptsd C&P Exam Question Depression or PTSD

[smoothc100]

I’m going to make a long story short here LOL I filed a claim for PTSD and was denied and the claim has been sitting as an appeal since 2013.  Since the VA acknowledged I suffer from depression NOS related to military service, I decided to file a claim for depression and anxiety.  I go in for my 3^rd C&P for mental health, but for depression and the Examiner is using the DBQ form, but he diagnoses me with PTSD according to the Case Management Rep. I spoke with.  He proceeds to tell me that they want the Examiner to complete the PTSD DBQ and I will have to take another C&P exam sometime in the near future.  This isn’t the first time this has happened to me with mental health exams.  My first C&P the examiner stated I experienced what every soldier does in a combat environment and proceeded to state I didn’t have PTSD but depression; however, the VA didn’t give me any disability for it at all.  Now my claim has went from a July 2016 completion date to November 2016 and back to gathering dust instead of prep for decision.  My questions are:

1.  If you go in for a C&P exam and the examiner finds something else wrong and attributes it to military service is the VA not supposed to look into it or give you a rating for the new disability?  I thought I read that somewhere in a VA reg., but I could be wrong.

 2.  Should I take another C&P exam especially if this is an administrative issue?

 The worst part about it all is my medicine cocktail is for individuals suffering from PTSD, but every VA mental health doctor even the good ones will tell me to my face I have PTSD, but stop short when it comes to annotating it in my medical records.  

Edited June 30, 2016 by smoothc100
spelling

[Andyman73]

smoothc100,

A fellow at my church went over to Bosnia maybe a half a dozen times, in the late 90s and early 2000s. He knew I had been in the Marines, and always greeted me warmly.  I don't know what ever happened to him and his family, as they stopped coming to the early service, some years later. I think he was with the PaNG Stryker unit.

The public easily forgets, but we Veterans never do. No matter how much we may want to.

Andy

Semper Fi

 

[smoothc100]

I finally received the exam in the mail, which now I'm totally confused as to why I am having another C&P exam even though its for PTSD instead of depression and anxiety. The C&P examiner diagnosed me with PTSD during the exam and also filled out the contractor version of the PTSD DBQ. The examiner also stated the following, "Veteran had no mental health issues prior to service.  Veteran now meets criteria for diagnosis of PTSD, identified in the report, which are related to the claimed/identified in service stressor(s).  Symptoms meet DSM criteria for the disorder.  Veteran meets criteria for PTSD.  Symptoms of depression and anxiety are subsumed within the PTSD diagnosis which was incurred during military service."  The examiner checked the box least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability).