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Different thoughts and suggestions about rating

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Steppenwolf

Question

I've spoken with several different VSO's who have a different take about my disability.

The one who told me to " leave well enough alone " has a familiar ring in other area's of my life but does it apply here.

Similar recommendations warn about opening up things for a new look.

One VSO asked what I am looking to gain? Maybe that is the question I need to ask here. If I'm considered unemployable is there any benefit in opening up a case and going through that rat race that I did for far more years than I even know.

 

Thanks

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Somewhat different; maybe needs a new category.

If I can make this comment to reflect what I'm thinking maybe one of the ADMIN people can move it to the most applicable category.

So the point of the original post has to do with the issue of my disability rating with an important element about getting different answers to the same issue and question.

After signing out of HADIT I ran into a few other issues unrelated to my rating or disability but very much related to this universal condition of UNDERSTANDING what to say, where to say it, how to say it and even why to say it.

Maybe as I'm thinking about it now it should fall into " social chat " but how is it that what once seemed like a simple question now becomes difficult to figure out?

Also what seems curious to me is how hundreds of news agencies report on the issue that I posted about the Durham VA's " scandal " and here on a site called " Hadit " there are only a few comments. One of the places that reported this story was on The DAV website and there are so many replies that the story was closed for further comments. 

Most of the comments included other veteran's experiences but one that jumped out at me was a story about the Director who was Director at another VA and she had a horrible trac-record there also yet she winds up with this 6 figure job here in NC making the same promises that she made at the last medical center.

Maybe my point is multifaceted but basically asks: what is important enough to band together to endorse change in this screwed up system?

One vet on the DAV site wondered out loud if the practices of the VAMC weren't possibly responsible for his illness's not getting better and in someways getting worse.

Speaking for myself I can say that I often feel as if I am on a leash with appointments way in the future and almost always being hammered with medications.   <-----This it self can be a whole discussion where we compare notes about how similar conditions are treated.

Furthermore Prostate issues are RADICALLY different from one VA to the next. Should there be a common data base collecting this information on VAMC's?

Just saying especially after being DX'd with prostate cancer and having the Durham VA taking a way to caviler approach to what to do. Should we have one discussion category for these men's issues and one for the female issues which are out there and does ANYONE know what the VA policy's are about them?

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Steppenwolf- I have a comment on one part of this:

"Also what seems curious to me is how hundreds of news agencies report on the issue that I posted about the Durham VA's " scandal " and here on a site called " Hadit " there are only a few comments."

That is not unusual. I have posted info like that here with no comments,just to make everyone aware of these issues.

I get email just about every week ( under a Google alert I filled out years ago) on either VA malpractice or from the OIG in their public PRs about their investigations, and Ben Krause ( Disabled Vets.org) lawyer and vet advocate, usually posts more than I get at his site...often with many comments , sometimes just a few.

Somewhere here Ben or maybe a hadit member listed every VA scandal that went back to Shreddergate a few years ago, but their sure have been more scandals since.

Here is his latest:

http://www.disabledveterans.org/2017/03/06/falsified-wait-time-calculations-prevented-access-veterans-choice/

 

 "Should there be a common data base collecting this information on VAMC's? " Perhaps there should be but

I am hoping that the Secretary will begin a "data base" on any VA rater who commits CUE in any VA decision, that a successful subsequent CUE, brings a proper award to the claimant.The older Cued decisions would be the proof of their incompetence.

Those raters can be identified by the ROs and I bet a data base would show some raters commit CUE in more claims than we know. They could either then get more training or hopefully be fired,if it is a systemic way they handle claims.

A data base on specific disabilities in my opinion , would not reveal much, as every disability and it's affects are unique to the specific claimant.

We cannot do much here about the horrendous scandals that have plagued the  VA over the years.

The Phoenix scandal recently produced the first winning lawsuit ( 2.5 Million I think) and I am waiting for the out come of the 50 Million lawsuit against them. When the Phoenix scandal broke I gave comments at Ben's site as to what the vets or their families (if they died) should do. In many cases whereby the VA OIG found significant potential malpractice problems problems over the years ( such as in the infected colostomy exam instruments-) I think many of those infected vets thought they would be eligible for 1151 comp based on the investigations but might never had even filed a claim.

As a wrongful death successful claimant myself, I am quick to try to help anyone here with a potential 1151 and/or FTCA claim, as I went through the hoops and also have written to the Sec (copy to POTUS) as to how VA is hiding their actually malpractice stats from Congress and from the public. But all we can do is tell the vet or their survivor the steps they need to take to make VA accountable in some way,through 1151/and or FTCA.

As a Cuer I also wrote  about how decisions that contain clear and unmistakable errors to the claimant's detriment, that have caused the backlog should  have a Fast Letter sent to all VAROs and vet reps ,to possibly change the VA's ability to violate their own regulations when adjudicating claims.Snce a decision supposedly goes through many hands,before VA signs off on one, it astonishes me that an obvious CUE can even pass though the system without correction. It is almost deliberate, in my opinion ,in some cases, because VA knows few Vet reps and few claimants would even challenge it. The BVA web site however shows more and more vets are claiming CUE than ever before.

Maybe more vets, if they read any of the info here in the Scandal link and FTCA/1151,would be more willing to really consider if their medical care from VA is proper.

If their treatment and care does not match up with how the "standard and usual" medical community would diagnose and treat the same condition, they have the potential of a 1151 or FTCA case.

Negligence and malpractice happens at private hospitals as well as the VA.

The way the VA is supposed to handle FTCA claims has given them a way out on any accountability.

I made that point clear to the Secretary, with evidence cited and with evidence I can produce if asked for it.

OGC made an extraordinary ( and deliberate) error after I settled with the VA, and never thought I would find out what they did, and that  I would still bring it up (many times to the OGC , also to the H VAC), and now to the man who was hired to "reform" the VA, not to maintain the decades of the Status Quo.

You seem interested in trying to change the system.

I think the system Will change if more vets let both the new Sec and the President know what they have put up with, in dealing with VA, whether in a medical care situation ,or with the claims process.

I posted their addresses and the Sec's email here available under a search.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Just to add....

"The way the VA is supposed to handle FTCA claims has given them a way out on any accountability."

Not in every case -but in those that are never properly reported to the NPDB. Like my case.

The way VA handles 1151 claims awards is a different scenario.

If they are awarded at a RO level ( either due to actual RO resolve of the issue, or due to BVA remand or due to, in my case, award based on FTCA settlement, that was not properly reported to NPDB-

 neither Congress nor the public ever knows about these proven malpractice claims.

But the VA sure knows the veterans they harmed or killed, that caused 1151 awards,  and they sure know the doctors who caused that.

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I forget if there is a policy here not to link or mention other veteran organizations that are helping/posting But the one I found very interesting is one where the comments fill up very fast. Veteran's are reading ( including the one that you just posted ) and commenting to a point where " comments are closed " with-in a day. Not sure if there is a limit but I haven't had a chance to add my 2 cents yet. None-the-less, there are lots of interesting posts about the ongoing dirt that keeps piling up.

If it's okay to post the site I will do that next time I'm here.

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I say leave well enough alone..

 

I get 70% from the VA...1650 a month

 

And ssdi...2283 a month

 

So Im sitting right around 3900 a month.

 

Ofcourse I can try for tdiu or 100% Va and get

 

100% in my case equals 3500 a month because of my wife and kids,  plus the 2283 from ssdi

 

Roughly 5800 per month....

 

But my 70% rating could also go down instead of up.

 

If you are sitting around 3k a month just as you are...

 

Leave well enough alone.

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  • Moderator

You can do what you like, but I plan on asking for each VA benefit I feel I deserve.  Its a myth that if you apply for an increase, VA will reduce you instead.  The regulations are clear:  The VA has specific criteria for a reduction in rating, and this does not include the phrase, "Whenever a Veteran seeks an increased rating, reduce him instead".  

To be reduced, if you have been rated more than 5 years, you not only have to show "actual improvement" but it needs to be under "ordinary conditions of life", that is, while working.  The regulation explains that some conditions wax and wane in severity, and some even get better with relaxation.  For example if you had a knee issue, and you are forced to quit work and it feels better when you are not on it all day long, then this is not a bases for reduction as it would likely flare up the minute you return to ordinary conditions of life, that is, go back to work.  

The "fear of reduction" tactic is one VA employees and VSO's use to keep Veterans from applying.  

Of course, there are millions of Veterans applying for benefits or benefit increases every year, and some of these will be reduced.  

Its also true that, if you were one of those "over rated", that is, you got a particularly overgenerous rater on your decision, that someone could go back and say..."gee this Vet should be reduced. "

Remember, tho, VA is looking to reduce Vets who are over rated, and it may just be in your benefit to have your claim sitting at the Board of Veterans Appeals and not at your RO for that reason.  You see, BVA does not reduce in the first instance, so, with "paper" files, your actually LESS likely to be reduced during the long wait at BVA, simply because the people who do reductions wont have access to your file.  Now, this is not quite so accurate with electronic files, and many/most Vets are on electronic records.  

But..think about it.  You are in charge of reductions.  Are you gonna go to the pile of claims of Vets that are at the BVA?  Probably not.  Why?  Well, its gonna make some important people mad if you reduce a Vet while he is waiting a BVA decision, to include the BVA.  If my claim is waiting for the BOARD judge, its gonna mess it all up if some rater does a proposed reduction.    It would be like taking your claims file, and pouring honey, molasses, and peanut butter all over it, gluing the pages together, as none of it would make any sense if there was a proposed or reduction since BVA got your claim docketed.  

In summary, don't let the "fear of reductions" paralyze you into "not applying" for additional benefits or increases.  

Believe it or not, my old VSO actually used that tactic when I got my first zero percent rating.  "Dont appeal...you could lose your zero percent and you would be worse off"

Just accept your zero percent and try to get an increase down the road.  I get upset with myself for listening to VSO's try to get me to use my money to light cigars with like that.  

How many of them do not apply for promotions because "they could get a worse job instead"?  

That "stinky thinky" is precisely the type of people you should avoid.  When you climb every mountain, yes there is a valley where you could fall back to again, but dont stop climbing because you are afraid of the valley on the other side.  When you climb that mountain, keep your eye on the taller mountain on the other side.  

Take a page out of some great disabled Vets who have overcome disabilities and succeeded anyway, such as Max Clelland, John McCAin, and Tammy Duckworth, all of which are  disabled Vets who moved into politics.   

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