Denied Service Connection

[dlove74us]

I applied in 2016 for High Blood Pressure, Sleep Apnea and Diabetes and was denied “not service connected”. In 2017 I applied for PTSD and  was approved for “Service Connection” I reapplied in 2018 for the previous denials, as a secondary to PTSD. Again I was denied because they stated the conditions occurred prior to my service connection for PTSD.

Not sure what to do at this point.  Appeal?

[Buck52]

Great Post Alex.

I realize this is not on this subject matter  But

What about VA sending out C&P notices for Veterans that are S.C. on issues that are not suppose to improve in their lifetime? sometimes this goes in the Veterans favor and an increased is granted, but sometimes it don't go in the Veterans favor and is reduced ...Why in the world do they do this?   After service connection has been establish by VA Regulation  why do that do this to Some Vets?

Noise Induced Hearing loss for Example:

If a Veteran has Loss of Hearing and has establish S.C. And Granted a High % after testing and according to the Medical field from Most Medical Journals Hearing loss is Non Reversible and not expected to improve in Veterans lifetime with the exception of major surgery(Cochlear Implants) which should be the Veterans option.

Also if a Veteran has Hearing Aids Issued from VA and had them four years or longer  they can get new Aides after 4 years...ok Why do these Veterans Require Hearing Test in order to recieve the Aids?  when Hearing loss does not Improve.

The VA Giveth and the VA Taketh Away.

dlove74us ,

Just my opinion but you need to get a Private IMO/IME  from a Specialist & read pertaint medical records/Notes, ask the Doc to go into detail , you may want to have him state his/her opinion in more or better detail than the 1st VA Dr.

a specialist would be good if this goes into equipoise if this specialist can have the PTSD Related to any of these other conditions  that's the nexus you need.

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2018 by Buck52

[FormerMember]

Start a new thread and I'd answer that Buck. I don't want to get any warning points or teach bad habits to newcomers about "taking over" a thread. Suffice it to say, after 5 years, they'd better have a darn good reason to schedule not one-but two exams- spread out over six months/year to show you have not only improved but maintained the improvement. If they don't, I win them at the BVA for not doing two exams. But with my new-found knowledge and techniques, I don't even need to get in that 4-year backlog nightmare. It's easier to spend $2 K of my client's money and get that IMO to rebut VA's contention right after the FIRST c&p where VA is saying you're a candidate for the Boston Marathon. I call for a DRO hearing on the record and whack 'em up side the head with the new IMO and they sit down and shut up.  You'd end up paying me a wad  for taking that appeal upstairs and the 4-years @ 20% you'd have to pay . I don't want your money. I'm too busy. I'd rather come here and teach you how to DIY. 

[Inarticulate&Distorted]

14 hours ago, asknod said:

Someone (VA?) is blowing smoke up your rear end. I can get anyone SC for anything at any time regardless of how many times or when they got denied or in which order.  Here's a pertinent example. My Vet goes to Vietnam and loads caskets on departing C-141s at TSN for 8 months. He helps unload wounded from Dustoffs. Finally, it warps him and he begins snorting smack. The AF pulls him aside and gives him a one-time shot at rehab and a clean sheet. They evac him to Wilford Hall MC at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. He is cleaned up but his psyche is irreparably damaged. They 86 him and give him a DD 257 as an incorrigible drug addict with personality disorders. I wrote this in 2015- a full year before I was accredited by VA. https://asknod.org/2015/08/20/the-good-humor-man-at-tan-son-nhut-ab/

He filed for bent brain as he left in '70. VA denied and said his Heroin and ETOH were the cause of his mental disorders. He lost 5 more times to the present (2015). I filed anew last fall and tuned up the claim with a good, rewritten stressor. No buddy letters. No evidence of PTSD or GAD (back in those days we called it Generalized Anxiety Disorder) in service.  VA examined him and denied yet again this spring. Denial was for "no dx of PTSD".  VA insisted he had a MDD secondary to drug addiction for 48 years. Suddenly, now, there's no mention of all those denials based on drugs being the reason he's bent. I promptly went to my nexus doctors and got a beautiful dx of PTSD due to all those human popsicles in caskets he was loading. I got the shrink to say the drugs were an attempt to self-medicate and good medical treatises on the fact that drug use doesn't cause bent brain syndrome. VA just scheduled a new c&p to rate him on Friday last. Never ever, ever depend on VES/QTC doctors to write a favorable nexus. VA denied for every reason under the sun for 48 years. I won on attempt #6 because it's a simple recipe. If you refuse to follow it, you lose. In the instant case mentioned above, you (dlove74us) are being given bogus info and told to believe it.

One thing I have learned in my 30 years of doing this is the need for essential, valid knowledge. There is a lot of incorrect info out there being disseminated to Vets-often by VSOs. Once you understand the "game", you cannot lose. This presumes you have a legitimate claim (but I treat that as a given). VA denies by depriving you of a nexus-not because you are not entitled- but because they are an Insurance Co. That's what they do. They deny and frequently in case nobody noticed. You merely have to get the nexus letter to win-even if you don't get it for 48 years. 

One trick most do not realize is the old "benefit of the doubt" rule we laugh about. You file. VA denies. You get your IMO and file it with your NOD. VA is forbidden to develop negative evidence against you so the claim is now in equipoise. Equipoise = tie goes to the runner-ergo you win. You may have to go to the BVA on some contentious point of law like a jetgun claim for Hep C. In that case, you hand your IMO to a VLJ rather than a dumb-s__t rater. Bingo, you win. Let VA deny. They have to have a succinct "Finding of Fact" to deny with. Let them develop this finding so you can rebut it with a nexus. Turn their game against them. Once they commit with their negative nexus, you have the opportunity to rebut with your IMO and will win.  Sadly, I see many develop their claims and think VA is going to see the light and agree with them. Not. The M 21 was not developed to grant claims. It sounds good but the manual is designed to provide the excuse needed to deny with. I buy my nexus letters for a flat $2,000 apiece. They are always bulletproof.

I've had 4 losses in about 1000 attempts since 2008. Reasons? 1) Liar (was never in Vietnam); 2) Liar (admitted to drug addiction in 1993 and then testified in 2014 he was clean as the driven snow); 3) Lied about OTH discharge; and 4) Liar (lots of UCMJ violations for more things than I can list here and most were not LOD). You win because a) you're right  and b) you told the truth. If the STRs and the claims file bear out your contentions, you will always succeed. If you failed, you forgot to supply one of the needed three ingredients. If I can get a Vet SC for glioblastoma for Camp LeJeune water and it isn't on the list, then you folks can do it too.  https://www.va.gov/vetapp18/files3/1815897.txt

I'm not a miracle worker nor do I profess to be one. I use VA's game against them. I suggest you do the same.

Love how you said you use the VA 's own bullshit against them. I had a Psychologost who pompusly told me, only a PhD can diagnose a MHD, how did i use that against them? Simple, i refused to see a psychiatrist or counselor, i would only use a PhD, helps when you can pick up those little tidbits of info to strengthen your case, and i know it helped me win my SSDI as well, sent them a load of my medical files, they sent me to 1 exam, from start to finish my SSDI only took 4 months.

To the original poster, keep fighting, you Win or you Die, anything less is unacceptable imo

Edited June 25, 2018 by Inarticulate&Distorted

[Unique11128]

Hi Asknod,

Great information..Who does your nexus letters?

 

[FormerMember]

I do most of my IMOs with Mednick Associates, sir. I have various other choices for bent brain depending on the circumstances. I'd only use a woman shrink if my client was a woman. If you have to go up to the BVA on a MST claim, you'll be wanting it to positively drip 100% phrases. With the vastly increased number of women on the Board now, and indeed the head honcho there being a woman, you want all the advantages you can assemble. If you do get a VLJ like Ms. Ursula R. Powell, who's been there since ten years before Jesus Christ was born, you'd better have a killer IMO. With that waiver of review in the first instance, you'll always win-well, assuming you're not contending your bad back and DJD was caused by being thrown out the cargo hatch of an alien spaceship from 30 feet up while you were in the service.  

The downside for pro se Vets is that Mednick will only work with attorneys or agents. Their policy can deprive you of that valuable tool without the services of one of us. I don't subscribe to that philosophy but then something must have happened that queered the deal and provoked the policy. It's Mednick's sandbox so they get to make the rules. I'm extremely fortunate to have them in my Rolodex. Best of all, they can do it in three weeks if  I'm pressed for time. 

[broncovet]

Alex, this one is puzzling.  You posted:

Quote

I promptly went to my nexus doctors and got a beautiful dx of PTSD due to all those human popsicles in caskets he was loading.

It appears like Hill and Ponton sides with you, that is, a Veteran CAN get a PTSD diagnosis from an outside (private) doc, and still get SC.  https://www.hillandponton.com/part2-ptsd-service-connection-flowchart/

However, I dont think Im making this up, there are quite a few Vets advocates who are convinced VA wont award PTSD benefits to Veterans UNLESS they have a PTSD diagnosis BY A VA clinician.  

Even Berta seems to agree that VA doesnt award PTSD benefits to Vets whose only diagnosis is by a Private doc.  We didnt just make this stuff up.  

I will guess what is going on here is that, perhaps, Vets were getting PTSD diagnosis by IME's or IMO's who were not qualified to make said diagnosis.  That fails every time.