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Reopening a PTSD claim

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bc0311

Question

I'm new to this site, and somewhat novice with claims as I've ignored them since my discharge in 2012, but I have some questions that I've yet to find answers for that hopefully someone can help me with:

In a nutshell, my story is I did my four years, two hellish combat tours to Afghan, got out in 2012, immediately filed my claims for a few disabilities like back and shoulder issues and got a 40% rating total. I've since not looked back as none of that concerns me. My issue now is that I was sent to a mandatory PTSD screening during one of my visits that year, and the examiner kind of went about the thing blase, and although I did tell her most of my traumatic experiences, she gave me 0% for "Combat PTSD not related to military service" as it says in their justification, whatever that means. I don't think they even attempted to listen to me as my experiences were extraordinarily traumatic and have been a detriment to my mental health and quality of life since. And yet I now have an effective date of a PTSD claim from day of discharge 6 years ago for 0%, says it right on eBenefits. I think you know where I'm going with this...

After 6 years of dealing with a slew of issues related to PTSD, I decided this week to start looking into trying to re open the case. My questions for you are.... Would I be entitled to any back pay if I could prove that I've suffered from PTSD since then, and that they made their original decision in error? And if so, how could I go about receiving the exact paper work / medical records from that one specific screening I had in 2012? I've looked everywhere and I don't really know how to navigate either of these situations... 

Thanks a lot!

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  • HadIt.com Elder

No I doubt very seriously you have a CUE   that was a typo error I am fairly sure.

Edited by Buck52
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  • HadIt.com Elder

if you were denied the PTSD show that to us on here and show us where you were approved and Dx for PTSD?And rated for the PTSD black out name /personal information 

If we know why they denied you we can help you a lot better.

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  • HadIt.com Elder
39 minutes ago, bc0311 said:

I was just using hearing as an example, I don’t currently care about it. 

They gave me 0% for a service connected disability that wasn’t a disability. 

For PTSD that was blatantly obvious they called it combat ptsd not related to military service. 

Is this grounds for CUE or no? 

I disagree with you about hearing loss is not a disability is is a disability and a bad one  even at 0% that means you do show a loss of hearing just not enough to meet the VA requirements for compensation at 10% or  higher.  noise induced hearing loss gets worse and worse over the years.  you may need to file an increase someday for it.

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'I'm learning that a CUE is basically impossible. Like 99.99% of them fail."

 That percentage is way too high.We have CUE winners here. Many  CUEs have been awarded at  the BVA  level and even at the CAVC. Nothing is impossible.

I based my advice to you on the fact that all of my CUEs have succeeded.

I stated twice here how a CUE could possibly succeed in your situation.

The examiner stated you did not meet the criteria for a PTSD DX.

Therefore the "0" is not a typo.

There is more to that exam you posted than we know. 

The denial from the VA  told you exactly why they denied.

That entire exam might have been done wrong by the examiner.

That is why many vets appeal lousy decisions. It was certainly my situation years ago,regarding at least  2 claims I had.In one case the C & P exam was manipulated by the RO in the Statement of the Case.

And overcome by the evidence they had failed to consider. Awarded.

In another case 2  C & P exams by a VA so -called Expert in diabetes was overcome by my 3 Independent medical opinions. Awarded claim.

 

VA says the claim is a "re-open" so you will surely get another C & P Exam....

....unless there is a lot more to this than we know. Then based on the next RO decision, you will know if you have the basis for a valid CUE. I explained twice how you can file that CUE-if the VA awards SC for PTSD and if the PTSD was at a ratable level at time of the past C & P exam ( based on evidence in their possession when the denial occurred.)

Everything you need to know about CUE is in our CUE forum.

But you will need to respond to anything the VA sends to you regarding the 're-opened' claim, and if the PTSD claim is awarded, the possibility of CUE can be considered then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Berta
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Thank you again Berta and Buck for the helpful responses. It really helps me understand as a novice...

So what I gather from what you're saying is that because the examiner did not at the time diagnose me with PTSD originally, "not service connected" is the correct, default justification for denying my claim completely. Even though all logic and reason would tell us that obviously combat PTSD is service connected, that's not literal legal language, it's just their way of saying "you get nothing." 

Based on what you're saying, now I don't think I have any grounds for a CUE at all... I did not get any diagnosis from anyone for PTSD at any time. I just know I'm severely affected by it. I don't need to be a psychiatrist to simply read the questions again and realize they are nearly all applicable. But there's no concrete evidence from 2012 to prove that. What evidence I gave the Dr at the time was just my relayed experiences, to which she said is definitely supportive of PTSD, but did not check the box, for whatever reason. So my only argument is on a difference of opinion of what I was dealing with. As I understand the CUE, this isn't grounds for one...

You may have won CUEs on all your cases, but you probably had concrete evidence from your original C&P. I'm not sure I have any. 

Right now I've met up with some local vet groups who deal with this stuff and I've been assigned an attorney to help, so hopefully they can straighten my stuff out. 

Thank you all again.

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