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]

Yes We all want to help and sometimes we get into some little spats with one another but that's ok we can all still be civil to each other and disagree, (hey were all human) but in the end we all will learn things we never knew, I know I have a lot more to learn and I learn new CFR'S everyday. & (PRESENTATIONS OF CLAIMS)

  There's just way to many Laws and Regulations to remember , so depending on your claim  its best to check out the CFR's for what your claiming, don't take this wrong  the CFR'S are for the VA  as well as us Veterans  it's how we use them that help us.

Alex Graham (aka Asknod) Knows what he is talking about , sometimes  for some of us we don't comprehend it the way he speaks it  that's just his Personality (imho) and the way he looks at things and puts them in his terms '' so-to-speak'', which is never WRONG.

 He not only helps out here on Hadit as a elder member, He helps countless Veterans and is a guest speaker on the Hadit Radio Shows from time to time usually on Thursdays evenings  6:00 pm eastern time 7:00 Central. check him out sometimes on the show, you will be glad you did.

Also check out his Book very interesting.and his ASKNOD web site.

 For you that don't know Alex,(Asknod) he is an old dog Vietnam combat Veteran, he has flown numerous/missions/ operations over the RVN AND WAS ACTUALLY SHOT DOWN AND HAD HIS AIRCRAFT CRASH IN ENEMY TERRITORY.  So he knows about the effects and harsh elements of War.

 He has worked his claims for a long long time and had a hard old road to ho, but he kept at it for years and years and learned a lot of up's and downs  the hard way and his persistence is what kept him going and also maybe his father as a Veteran too gave him the courage and wisdom to keep on going with his claims  as he NEVER gave up and let the VA win out even after the (VA HOSPITAL  DR'S  ALMOST KILLED HIM)..he worked his claims and won but it took years for him  and I can only imagine how many sleepless nights he had during those years of frustration.

He has study the course on how to become a certified VA Claims Agent, and that course is not easy' and he passed it and was accepted to the CVAC, to be accepted in this court there are qualifications that have to be met and also  Approved by its members of the court, so to become an accredited VA Claims Agent  you do have to know  a lot about VA Case Law to become an certified Claims Agent,  Alex has passed all these test  and for that he should be treated with the most respect as an Veteran Adjudicator & elder member here on Hadit.

If you don't understand something he writes or post about, Just say you don't understand or ask him for a better clarification ..I will guarantee you  you will learn things you never knew and it will certainly help you with your claims or someone your helping.

I am very glad we have Alex here on Hadit

It makes us all feel good when we help a Veteran that needs help with his/her claims and they win (hopefully the max 100 P&T w/SMC's)..I know it makes me feel good to see a Veteran get these benefits he/she so well deserves,  that's why I like to help them and its probably true for the rest of you guys.

I got a lot of great Advise From Alex and have learnt a lot of things about VA Related Issues, Mostly claims from Alex and for that I will be forever grateful to him.and proud to call him my friend.

[FormerMember]

I suggest all of you who feel slighted by my comments above either reread  the posts or look up the word "template". This thread has been hijacked and I am just as guilty as others. For that I apologize. However, I will never apologize for correcting what anyone can clearly see as untruths or outright bad advice. One size does not fit all nor will it ever in VA adjudications. Hadit  allows Vets to offer advice on how they  solved their dilemma. Using another's technique to win is often like trying to wear another's clothes.  Sadly, many Vets discover this when they try to utilize advice at Vet's help sites. While it may be helpful or instructive, it must be taken in context or it may backfire. What we are seeing here is the "too many chiefs and not enough Indians" syndrome" or more succinctly "My advice is correct and yours isn't." Hey, folks. Fly at it but do not insist I agree with your misconstrual of VA law. I do this day in and day out-and most of it pro bono. Most of you do it once or twice and obtain what you seek. You do not continue to keep up with changing statute and regulation.

I do not talk down to Vets. I do not give them false hope. I provide a service when they finally have no one to turn to for representation. Virtually all of the Vets I represent are very ill and have had no success with their purported representative at a major VSO. I lost a Vietnam 11 Bravo (LRRP) this morning to respiratory cancer. He did two tours back to back like me. Two BS's with Vs and a PH. I now have the unenviable task of consoling his widow this week, going to his funeral,  filing for substitution and getting a nexus to fight it. I do it because if the shoe was on the other foot, he would have done it for me. I met him here. I try to provide general knowledge couched as advice. I do not offer specific advice or counseling because that is against the code of conduct for attorneys and agents. If you disagree with my advice, it helps if you could cite to the specific regulation you feel I am wrong about. Ad hominem (google it) attacks about the need for earplugs are pointless.   

It is said you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. The adage more than applies here. To tell someone they have to have an IMO in order to submit a winning claim for PTSD is misinformation. To baldly state that CUE is "VERY RARE" is a gross distortion of the truth (read "untruth"). Only a novitiate or someone grossly misinformed would make such a comment. To what purpose? For those of you without a dictionary, misinformation and untruths mean you are giving your fellow Veterans false information. To tell them they need to obtain a PTSD  nexus initially from a private source insures they will lose and really damages their chances of success later on on appeal. If you feel the overwhelming desire to give advice, make sure you read the statute and regulation that controls it first. Many of you depend on your fellow Vets here to offer useful information but you endanger all of Theresa's hard work on this site if the advice you offer is useless, inapplicable or worse-detrimental to their claim.  That is all I set out to say when I entered this thread.  

After many years of doing this, my personal experience is that many who suffer major mental disorders are very sensitive to any criticism and consider their particular experiences unique and applicable across a broad spectrum. I certainly do not seek to upset any of you but it's apparent it grates on your ears. Hadit was designed to help all of you, not devolve into arguments about who is "more right" or has a more spot-on experience. I offer my past battles as advice only, and now, my working knowledge from real experience as an accredited Veterans advocate as help for all of you. You most certainly are free to ignore it. Henceforth, I will don earplugs before delving into these posts.

I apologize for any who feel marginalized by my comments. My intentions were purely altruistic.

P.S. In reference to Buck's comment above. I wish to clarify my aircraft was not shot down. My gomer Air America pilot, Jack Smith  had a hangover and made a left turn into a mountain. We went from 75 kts to 0 in just under 10 feet when the A/C stalled and augered into the trees. We actually made it about 1 klic inside Thailand when he pulled this stunt so it cannot be truthfully said we went down in Laos. Besides, Laos wasn't enemy territory. It was neutral but we did a lot of sightseeing up there. Regardless of what Buck says, I am a Veteran just like all of you- no better, no worse, no more or less important than any of you and certainly not unique in any respect. We had a 40% casualty rate with all of them KIA-BNR. 

 

Edited July 1, 2018 by asknod
correction of facts

[broncovet]

Alex, Im sorry for the loss of your friend.  

On the issue of the "rarity" (or lack, therof) of CUE errors, perhaps some people were misled by the court, who called CUE error's "rare":

Quote

The Court has 
further stated that:

Clear and unmistakable error is a very 
specific and rare kind of "error."  It 
is the kind of error, of fact or of law, 
that when called to the attention of 
later reviewers compels the conclusion, 
to which reasonable minds could not 
differ, that the result would have been 
manifestly different but for the error .... 
If a claimant-appellant wishes to 
reasonably raise clear and unmistakable 
error there must be some degree of 
specificity as to what the alleged error 
is and, unless it is the kind of error ... 
that, if true, would be clear and 
unmistakable error on its face, 
persuasive reasons must be given as to 
why the result would have been manifestly 
different but for the alleged error.  It 
must be remembered that there is a 
presumption of validity to otherwise 
final decisions, and that where such 
decisions are collaterally attacked, and 
a clear and unmistakable error claim is 
undoubtedly a collateral attack, the 
presumption is even stronger.

Fugo v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 40, 43-44 (1993), aff'd on 
reconsideration, 6 Vet. App. 162, 163 (1994); see also Bustos 
v. West, 179 F.3d 1378, 1380 (Fed. Cir. 1999) (expressly 
adopting the "manifestly changed the outcome" language in 
Russell, supra), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 967, 145 L. Ed. 2d 
315, 120 S. Ct. 405 (1999). 

This said, I actually agree that CUE error's are "not so rare", mostly because VSO's, and even attorneys often advise against filing them.  There is little doubt in my mind that the Fugo Court chose its words wisely because they dont want Vets to think they can get away  with filing CUE's "OFTEN".  

They want us to beleive a CUE is rare, so we believe them, however foolish.  This "Cue description" is often cited, and when you tell a lie enough times, it can even be repeated by well meaning, and honest people, and become "truth" for others.  In other words, "so and so said Cue is rare, and I beleive him, so it must be rare".  

More accurately, "The judge in Fugo v Brown, said Cue is rare".  

We know that only a small fraction of claims are appealed, where many, many of those even with valid legal merit, are never appealed.  

Even more so with CUE.  There are many CUE errors that never see the light of day because they are never filed.  

Personally, I have procrastinated filing CUE errors "because I can"..there is no time limit to filing CUE, and I intend to exhaust all other routes before I "raise the standard of review" to the highest level (for Veterans law), which is CUE standard of review.  Its helpful for me to think of CUE as a "standard of reivew".   

Source:  Board decision, here:

https://www.va.gov/vetapp05/files1/0506205.txt

[Buck52]

 Alex no need to apologize you have not did anything wrong here.

i too am guilty hijacking this thread and I aplogize to the O.P. (Original Poster)

And I too am sorry to hear about the loss of your friend  it's hard to hear of these sad things.

Sorry for being incorrect stating his (Alex) aircraft was shot down..I was wrong about that being shot down, but at the locations I only assume he was shot down, at least I got the crash part correct and thankful Alex and hopefully the crew came out alive  that's what matters the most.

I think it's good to have these kinds of post from time to time  it wakes most of us up and we all get to know each other better...hijack thread yes a lot of us are guilty  here, but also were getting some pretty good Information along the way! and ever who reads these post.

We all respect each other and be civil to each other and we can agree to disagree.

CUE Rare or Un-Rare???  It don't matter , most of us Know CUE Claims are the most difficult to win and just keep it at that.

Edited July 1, 2018 by Buck52

[Buck52]

On 6/23/2018 at 7:08 PM, dlove74us said:

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?

 To the OP (Original Poster) I apologize to you sir for hijacking your post  that is inappropriate to do this on Hadit.

Now back to your question?

You should always disagree with a decision if you feel its wrong and you have the evidence to back you up.

Don't let the VA Scare you off with their untimely tactics. 

 Not knowing about your claim  but from what you stated if they denied you  because the condition occurred prior to your military service,(WHAT PROOF DO THEY HAVE?) you need to get a specialist or license Physiatrist  to rebuttal that statment and actually say some like I have read this veteran medical records PRIOR AND AFTER HIS MILITARY SERVICE and service records and talk to this veteran and examined him thoroughly in my office for Symptoms of PTSD Under the diagnostic code DSM 5 Set forth under the VA Guidelines  to give my opinion that it  is as  least likely as not his MH condition also known and diagnosed as PTSD with unspecific Mental disorders to have occurred from his prior military service & give the Dr credentials and years of experience if the Dr can go into short details of his/her explanation/opinion will help be favorable to your claim.

This is known better as a IMO/IME (Independent Medical Opinion)  (Independent Medical Examination.)

READ ASKNOD LINK

Redact IMO for PTSD.pdf

in above postings   if this link don't open.

Edited July 1, 2018 by Buck52

[Berta]

Gee I am hijacking this myself- to Broncovet' s concise reply-above -sorry-

"The judge in Fugo v Brown, said Cue is rare".

Fugo V Brown was decades ago when the VA made less legal errors- less claims filed in those days.And many if not all were pre- internet-I had to use law libraries if I couldnt find answers in the 1991- and successive annuals of the VBM by NVLSP. .re: CUE. Most of my CUE knowledge , after I understood those regs, for CUE-came when the BVA went on  line. CUE BVA denials taught me as much as BVA CUE awards did.