Giving Up is Success for Me ( WE WON!!!! )

[silverdollar22]

This is my decision letter on my knee. What do you think? Remember the doctor did a DBQ and IMO on the knee.

 

[silverdollar22]

UPDATE; I talked with the director of the RO and received an update on my claims. There still working on my CUE for CLAIM FOR CLEAR AND UNMISTAKABLE ERROR FOR FAILURE TO GRANT SERVICE CONNECTION FOR RIGHT HAND ARTHRITIS ON AN AUGUST 1998 RATING DECISION. I was told that I’m being scheduled a C&P for my Sleep Apnea and ED which was deferred. Good news is that the lady from Vocational Rehab contacted me and said that all of my doctors paperwork was sent in and that she scheduled me for an independent living assessment because I cannot work. I’ll have to get her to put that in writing! I guess I’ll just sit back and wait for the C&P’s to come and deal with that. It should be okay because I’m diagnosed with SA and my doctor opined that it was caused by my depression and medication! I don’t know anything about the ED exam so I’ll have to do some research on that I guess. I hope the cue comes through even if the lawyer will get 20% still should be a good chunk of change!

[FMFDOC25]

On 9/2/2018 at 11:12 AM, silverdollar22 said:

This is my decision letter on my knee. What do you think? Remember the doctor did a DBQ and IMO on the knee.

 

I may  have a clearer answer why your right knee claim was denied.

According to the info you provided, it appears you attempted to DIRECT-SERVICE CONNECT. Which 99.9% of the time will get denied for what the VA states did not occur in-service...BUT...there's another way you can get it granted.

In a previous post, you mentioned your right knee is fubar because of your left knee.

Here's where you may be able to get your right knee instability granted.

Did you or have you attempted to SECONDARY-SERVICE CONNECT your right knee to your left knee?

Secondary Claim

These are claims for disabilities that developed as a result of or were worsened by another service-connected condition. In other words, it is recognized that a service-connected disability may cause a second disability. This second disability may not otherwise be considered service-connected.

The requirements to getting a Secondary Claim granted are as follows:

1. Existing Service Connected Disability( check yes...your left knee.)

2. Existing Disability or Disease(Check yes...right knee instability.)

3. Nexus of opinion linking the service-connected disability that's causing or aggravating your current disability to your right knee.

I would suggest you attempt to re-claim it as:

1. "Right Knee Instability, Secondary to [your left knee condition]"

Also, did the Dr. that provided the IMO have either of these key phrases the VA looks for in Nexus opinions?

 

1. “is due to” (100% sure)

 

2. “more likely than not” (greater than 50%)

 

3. “at least as likely as not” (equal to or greater than 50%)

 

4. “not at least as likely as not” (less than 50%)

 

5. “is not due to” (0%)

Give it one more shot. Don't give up.

[silverdollar22]

Thanks for the reply but,  it was claimed as a secondary claim. This is from my doctor; 

[silverdollar22]

Was this IMO good enough to service connect the instability to the already service connected knee condition?

[pwrslm]

Get a request in for the DBQ and opinions that they used. Send it to the privacy office at the RO, not the FOIA route. The PO has to respond to your request.
Once you have the DBQ and the opinion you can figure out what they did. I dont think your IMO was bad, but that does not mean that the RO applied it properly. If they failed to use all of the information, you have a solid complaint. They do it all too often and get away with it if you do not follow through to get your C File or additional info that they used to come to the claim decision. An example would be your IMO states multiple citations, yet they could have read the C&P  opinion done by a NP and ignored everything else. You wont know until you get the file or privacy act request. I use a form VA 3288 and uploaded it directly through EBenefits. When they failed to respond in 30 days, I called the WH hotline and complained, then it only took a week or so get finish.

Send it to Wisconsin and its 6 months. This way is faster.

https://www.va.gov/vaforms/va/pdf/va3288.pdf