Jump to content
VA Disability Community via Hadit.com

VA Disability Claims Articles

Ask Your VA Claims Question | Current Forum Posts Search | Rules | View All Forums
VA Disability Articles | Chats and Other Events | Donate | Blogs | New Users

  • hohomepage-banner-2024-2.png

  • 27-year-anniversary-leaderboard.png

    advice-disclaimer.jpg

  • donate-be-a-hero.png

  • 0

1305 days since NOD filed

Rate this question


knap-sack

Question

I am getting pissed, initial claim filed ten months before NOD

Time since NOD filed.

3 years six months 28 days,  

112,752,000 seconds

1,879,200 minutes,

31,320 hours

1305 days

186 weeks three days

357.53% of a common year (365 days)

Who's counting,

EBenefits  says its in Prep for Decision

YES I'M STILL ALIVE and waiting

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Answers 6
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters For This Question

6 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

Knap-Sack,

 

Sorry to hear that it has been so long.  I thought my NOD was going long at about 1.5 years old.

Do you have a VSO?

What Regional Office is handling your NOD?

I wish you well.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

You're talking about a DRO Hearing, not a BVA Hearing or a DRO Review correct?

What's the history of your submission of New & Material Evidence supporting your NOD'd issues?

Late submissions of N & M Evidence can likely extend the Appeal wait time. VA is required by reg to work every submission of actual N & M Evidence to determine if it results in an Award or continued Denial. Could be very time-consuming.        How long after your initial decision did you wait to file your NOD?

My DRO Hearing didn't hit the On Deck Circle for 4.25 yrs (1540 days). After the DRO opened the Hearing, I opted on an "Informal DRO Hearing," no Recording or Transcription. Left the Hearing after 35 min knowing the DRO had decided to Award all issues, including IU from a more recent NOD. I got the DRO Award Letter the same day. 

Had I went Recorded and Transcribed, would have been 6 to 9 mos more before I receive the actual Award Decision.     Semper Fi

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I got a call about three weeks ago and this nice lady asked if I wanted a formal hearing and I replied no, I said informal will do. She asked if I had been to a doctor about my wrist, I said no I was told my condition was static from the VA and there was not a thing they could do for it about three years and I sent that info in. I asked if she saw it in my file. She stammered and stuttered that their was over 50 pages and she did not know. She said that I should be hearing from her soon about a new C&P exam.  I got my white envelope in the mail and they denied me. This was my DRO review and informal hearing. When she called I was at a disadvantage due to me not being at home with my paperwork in my hand. I received my statement of case paperwork and I now will be appealing to the BVA. That was a joke doing a dro review and a lot of wasted time. This whole process is stupid. Its made to wear you down. I am going to appeal to the BVA now. Its really depressing wasting so much time and sending in new material and just get a letter in the mail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
  • Moderator

The tragedy is that this is "normal procedure" for VA..to take 4 or 5 years for an appeal.  

There has been new legislation passed which is supposed to help this, that VA is supposed to be testing.  

I think the big problem is not the BVA...if you read the chairmans report, you will see that the VARO "sits" on your appeal for years before they even certify it to the Board.  

https://www.bva.va.gov/Chairman_Annual_Rpts.asp

I think that the new legislation is trying to change the "multi year process" of certifiying your claim to the Board, when it really should take hours to do, not years.  

I got a VARO decision in 2009.  I appealed, and in 2012, the Board remanded it.  It took the VARO 3 years to comply with the remand, and in August, 2017, I finally got a decision which Im now appealing the effective date, to the CAVC.  Oh, I forgot to mention this.  The 2009 VARO decision was from a 2002 claim.  So I have waited 15 years, total, and Im not done yet.  

I have hired a lawyer for the CAVC and we should see results in 2018, as the CAVC is not as bad as the rest of them.  

Since about 80 percent of first time claimants are denied, it is taking about 5 to 10 years, average process time, for Vets to get delivered benefits.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I understand you on your 2002 claim broncovet, my initial claim for my hand and wrist was 1984. Its a shame we have so many layers between us and them and yet I have a VA hospital 25 miles from home. It just don't make sense why I can't walk in to a VA doc and show him/her what's going on, instead of contractor only hired for C&P exams.

The system is so screwed up. broncovet I understand why they don't want to pay. The Navy during my 8 months of rehab never noted the loss of range of motion and loss of strength in hand. Now thirty years later I have more issues due to age which an orthopedic doctor could see plain as day.  The VA has documented my hand and wrist but nobody has put them together. There is also a recent case that increase's compensation due to arthritis. They did not take that recent case and apply it to my hand.

I am at a crossroad now. I believe I need a Lawyer. My pile of paperwork needs reduced and I need a doctor that says my wrist condition is a result of my tendons being reattached in my hand.  I need a Lawyer and a Doctor, what do you think broncovet?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Its job security. The longer they keep us bouncing around in their system the bigger the backlog and the more money they can ask for from the FED. Sick of hearing about how the poor VA is overwhelmed, like they are the victims. There is no sense of urgency to be found when dealing with these people, even on CSPAN Investigative VA hearings, no sense of urgency only a sense of boredom... They are making a good living off of us and the VAMC is no different. Despite their claim that VA and VAMC do not work together, they are obviously....

Bottom line,  They have to keep us coming back to justify their jobs.

At VAMC You will never receive  a diagnosis or treatment for a condition unless it is awarded service connection.

At VARO You will never receive service connection unless you have a VAMC diagnosis and treatment.

Until then all you will get is vague assumptions about symptoms that the VAMC will never get to the root of, even if you tell them what happened to cause them. They will ignore the root of your problems for as long as they can. If you tell them you sometimes feel paralyzed and almost broke your neck in the military, they will look up your rectum and prescribe you laxative.

If you go to a private Dr. and tell them your condition is from the military you will get the same treatment as VAMC because they know if you have to go to them for treatment you are trying to get around the BS VAMC is serving you and they dont want to get into a pissing contest with the VA. They do not like to be involved with anything that has claims attached.

You have to beat them at their own game. If you have back pain and know it is from getting run over by a humvee when you were in service 20 years ago, Go to a private Dr. and be vague about your injury. Tell them you had a vehicle accident a long time ago. The medical report will look very different than if you go in there and tell them it happened in service. Then when you file your claim you can use that medical report as evidence, (the vehicle was a Humvee 20 years ago.)

This is what I did and it worked. For 20 years VAMC and Private Dr's kept giving me minimized radiology reports of all kind of minor BS around the root, but never addressing the root. Then C&P examiners tried to say minor abnormalities that are consistent with the normal aging process.

Went to a new private Dr. and told them I was injured in a vehicle accident a long time ago. The report came back with exactly what is in my SMR T2 T3 T4  AND they even emphasized in the report that the abnormalities appeared OLD and were probably secondary to an OLD INJURY!  

But thats not the end of it. I filed my claim 2010 ... The evidence was ignored claim denied 2012. filed NOD in 2012 certified to BVA 2013.

I hired an Attorney.

MY appeal was just transferred to BVA as of NOV 2017 after sitting stagnant at the VARO for 4 years. WHY? Because they falsely awarded 10% on one contention that I had to appeal which held up the rest of my appeal to BVA. Classic VARO Gank Move!

Had a VARO Hearing scheduled in Nov 15. for the BS 10% rating that split my appeal in half.

Drove 2 hours to get there and had my wife and my attorney with me.

Huge building with a lot of employees and 2 huge guards on the lobby.

The lobby was empty except for my attorney, my wife and I... lots of empty seats. So dont think everyday there are hundreds of veterans lined up at the VARO, with staff running around sweating and carrying files and stuff because there is not! It is a very laid back stress free atmosphere.

The guards got on the phone to tell someone we were there and after 10 minutes the female DRO comes out and brings my attorney and I into the hearing office, my wife stayed seated in the lobby.

She tells us in the hearing room that she has to cancel the hearing.

My Attorney convinced her to have the hearing.

So I go out and tell my wife to join us in the hearing room and noticed another female talking to the guards.

After 2 hours the hearing ended. I was told that as soon as the transcripts were returned she would make a decision, generally about 60 days to get the transcripts.

We left.

Once in the car I told my wife that she initially wanted to cancel the hearing and my wife told me that she heard the girl in the lobby say to the Guards, that she had a lunch date with my DRO and when the guard told her she was in a hearing she said "HEARING? She didnt tell me about no hearing. " Basically the DRO was trying to cancel my hearing to keep her more important lunch date.

This was in Nov 2015. It is now Dec 2017 and I still dont have a decision on that hearing, but they transferred the rest of my appeal to BVA after 4 years and a congressional inquiry.

Basically since I still dont have a decision for the hearing on the 10% BS and they have now transferred my file to BVA without issuing it,  this means the bulk of my appeal sat at the VARO for over 4 years for nothing!!!!

Now it is over two years and I am still waiting for a decision on the DRO HEARING for a simple shoulder increase, which by the way was awarded as something entirely out of context from what I am claiming, effectively separating it from my actual claimed injury.

As I sit and wait here all I can think about is the laid back atmosphere at the VARO and these 2 bimbos enjoying lunch while my appeal sits in the corner. HEARING DECISION!?!?, you aint tell me nothin about you got work to do when you at work...

By the way the initial claim is from 1993. They kept telling me they couldnt locate my SMR even after I sent it to them 4 times! Now they just pretend the evidence doesn't show blahblahblah. Then setup bogus hearings, try to cancel them without telling you, then dont give you a decision and sit on your stuff for as long as they can.

In my experience., there is nothing you can do to satisfy a DRO and even if you do, they still need the decision approved by the SOB on the second floor corner office with a view, whos main job and primary concern is to make sure they spend all of last years budget so they dont lose any the following year and can ask for more.

That is VA and VAMC 101

Make of it what you will....

 

 

Edited by 8up4life
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Guidelines and Terms of Use