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]

Again I believe a private Dr diagnose and nexus is used After a denial of PTSD. 

''If you applied for service-connected disability compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and were denied benefits, an opinion from a private medical doctor can help increase your chances of being successful on appeal. The VA calls these opinions "Independent Medical Opinions," or IMOs. They are also sometimes called nexus''

:Source: NOLO Attorneys

 

However on the PTSD DBQ 21 0960 P-3  it states

''NOTE TO PSYCHIATRIST/PSYCHOLOGIST - Your patient is applying to the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for disability benefits. VA will consider the information you provide on this questionnaire as part of their evaluation in processing the veteran's claim. Please note that this questionnaire is for disability evaluation, not for treatment purposes. VA reserves the right to confirm the authenticity of ALL DBQs completed by private health care providers

https://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/VBA-21-0960P-3-ARE.pdf

So actually their not saying a Private Doc CAN'T make a PTSD Diagnosis

''VA reserves the right to confirm the authenticity of ALL DBQs completed by private health care providers''

Edited June 29, 2018 by Buck52

[FormerMember]

Hold the phone, gentlemen. In order for this to work (succeeding with a private nexus), you have to follow the recipe. 1) submit claim; 2) get VES/QTC shrink exam; 3) get VA denial; 4) obtain and submit private IMO with NOD; 5) VA orders new c&p to CYA; 6) win.

I'm also going to tip my cards and tell you one very important facet. No one-I repeat- no one in my business uses a DBQ. We have a shrink write it up on the standard form we all use. I refer, of course, to the SF 8.5X11 (W) form called a blank sheet of paper. All my nexus letters are unique. Never fall into the trap of using the VA's forms. By law, we now have to use certain standard forms such as the 526, 958 etc. Nowhere is it written that only DBQs on the approved forms are de rigeur. DBQs are for VA contract exams so as to keep them from coloring outside the lines. 

Attached you will find a chicken dinner winner. Note that it is not on a DBQ. Remember, every claim has a different technique for winning. Some require very little - i.e. a GSW or SFW. Musculoskeletal injuries require some event recorded in your STRs unless your MOS was Airborne and you jumped out of perfectly good airplanes that were not going down. I know Matt Hill personally and I can't see him digressing on this point. Using a DBQ to rebut a DBQ is a waste of time.

Redact IMO for PTSD.pdf

Edited June 30, 2018 by asknod

[Navy4life]

21 hours ago, asknod said:

If you have to go up to the BVA on a MST claim, you'll be wanting it to positively drip 100% phrases.

If you have a solid claim in the first place, there will never be a need to go to the BVA.  As a woman who filed for PTSD/MST, I was awarded it the first time around.  Claims submitted all the time are not always service connected/approved claims.  Not all claims are deemed worthy of service connection.  Making sure you file a solid claim with all the "i" and "t" crossed is what makes a claim smooth.  Every claim I have filed, I had all three markers - in-service connection, continuity of issue, and current diagnosis.  

[Navy4life]

A nexus/IMO is always helpful but not always successful.  Getting one from a VA doctor is golden.  I should know, I had two from my podiatrist and those letters won my contentions and then some.  

PTSD is a different animal and any claim for PTSD has to have a diagnosis from a VA or contracted examiner for the VA when a PTSD claim is submitted.

[Buck52]

Alex

This is the route I took when filing for my PTSD Claim, My IMO was about the same way as your IMO redacted copy & from a state License Certified Physiatrist. 

Although I was not denied first time around  but I did present it As your Vet did.

I never filled out or had a Physiatrist to fill out a PTSD DBQ. 21-0960

My PTSD Diagnosis was from a VA Psychiatrist  with 20 years experience , Notes from my L.C.S,W-S-4 and Layman-statements from spouse and friends describing my behavior pattern before and after military.

And last but not least my STR'S and Medical Medical Records From Vietnam & Unit Detachment Records For In-Country travel with In-country travel orders & records signed by my C.O.from the special operations Branch I was assigned to.

And I  added my DD 214 to show my RVN Service & mentals and award ribbons to include my CIB , MOS And my Temp MOS , Temp MOS  Simply because some of us  are not choose to do what we were trained to do as our MOS, depending on man power as to the location of our units, I had to learn a NEW MOS pretty fast.

One of the troops was going home within a little over a month WHICH HIM AND I HAD BECAME GOOD FRIENDS (BUDDY'S) and I  was trained by him as order from our C.O. To take over his job...it was funny at the time b/c he ask our C.O. Who is taking his place when he leaves?  the C.O. Looked over at me and simply said HIM''...I said hmmm OK Sir  what else was I to say....  its fortunate that most of us did have a good repore with our C.O.

But in my lay statement I mention what I was chosen and ordered to do..Although I had no records to state my MOS was Temp, so I mention my unit  name and location and dates and my reporting officer and my C.O. and what I had to do..I did say my dates my not be exact but within in at least a 10 day range They checked all this out and found to be correct as what I reported.

[FormerMember]

<<<If you have a solid claim in the first place, there will never be a need to go to the BVA.>>> 

I get a bang out of Vets who use their own claims experience as the template for everyone else's when giving advice. Obviously Navy4life has never filed claims for CUE or she would never say that. It took me 7 years and two trips to the CAVC (#12-1980 (comp.) and #15-115 (CUE)) to collect my $500,000. I had wonderful evidence but VA was adamant about not paying that huge sum out without a fight. When (and if) Navy4life  becomes accredited and dips her paddle in the VA lake of claims, I do hope she'll come back and tell us you never have to appeal to the BVA or up to the Court. If we never had to, there would be no need for Attorneys or Agents (or VSOs for that matter!) and we would certainly never need the CAVC. We'd settle all this at the ROs across the fruited plains and win the first time out. Ne c'est pas?

<<<PTSD is a different animal and any claim for PTSD has to have a diagnosis from a VA or contracted examiner for the VA when a PTSD claim is submitted.>>>>

Hmmm. What's wrong with this statement? How is it anyone who has been previously denied for PTSD ever wins down the road like all of my clients? Every one of the Vets I've taken on was denied by a contracted VA examiner (VES/QTC) or a VA psychiatrist. By law, I cannot represent them until they get denied. I have never used a DBQ nor would I. Until I repped the gentleman above, I had never had any but combat Vets like Buck w/ CIBs or other combat medals. Actually, I take that back. I had a WW2 Marine Infantryman who was in the first wave a New Georgia and Okinawa. He lost for PTSD eight times. He was my first claim. I got him 30% and filed the NOD. We obtained a IMO from a private shrink and VA instantly granted 100% with no fight. He was 94.   

Understand one thing. VA, by operation of law, is forbidden to develop negative evidence against your claim. Their shrink can deny you based on lack of  a stressor  or because you have personality disorders . Once your rebut that, you reach equipoise. Equipoise gives you the benefit of the doubt. Ergo, you win. 

One thing I do not hand out is bogus advice. I'm not allow to by law. You folks are welcome to disagree with me but please do not ask me to agree with your interpretation of statute and regulation. I began this game in 1989. I finally won the last of it in 2016. You can insist I'm full of hooey and doing it wrong but my clients (over 1000 now) are all happy campers. In fact, everyone who read my book has gone on to win. 

If any of you are avid followers of the CAVC, check out docket #18-938. You will notice that Judge Bartley is taking an inordinately long time to deny my quest for a larger greenhouse after VR&E screwed me on the size. If they were going to deny or dismiss, it would have happened in less than a week. Next week, we'll be going over one month with no decision. I'm hoping for a panel and an Ex Writ win. That would be #9 in all of  CAVC history since 1989. 

Win or Die.