If the VA system is a "Pro-Claimant" System ...

[WomanMarine]

... how come we have to FIGHT it for years? 

And If this is true, how come when the VA loses records, the Veteran is at fault?

Good read: 

Pro-Claimant_Paradox_Widener_Law_Rev_Article.pdf http://www.eagleveteranslaw.com/uploads/Pro-Claimant_Paradox_Widener_Law_Rev_Article.pdf

Edited August 26, 2018 by WomanMarine

[vetquest]

I have only seen a non-adversarial relationship at the BVA.

[WomanMarine]

12 minutes ago, vetquest said:

I have only seen a non-adversarial relationship at the BVA.

Then maybe it is time I go to the BVA ...

As the VA is claiming my medical records do NOT EXIST ...

“We have been unable to obtain records from West Los Angeles VA Medical Center for the period of 1976. We have determined that these records do not exist. We will now make a decision based on the evidence of record. Records were received from VAMC West L.A., dated November 14, 1979 through August 1983. (Veteran reports treatment beginning 1976). All treatment records available for these dates were received June 26, 2017.”

[acesup]

Did you collect travel pay when you went to that hospital?  This may not be of any assistance to you, but if the answer just happened to be "Yes", I'd see if the VA has 1976 financial records, just to prove you were there.

Do your VA records from 1979 through 1983 mention that you were seen/treated there in prior years?   

I doubt any of it was on computer back then, does the VA claim to have archived records from that era, but just not yours, or is this a problem that other vets had there too?

[broncovet]

Many of us have gotten the "pro claimant non adversarial" laff.  I stopped laughing at about my 4 th BVA decision, when I still did not have all my benefits.  The "pro claimant non adversarial" stuff is the "SANTA CLause story" of the VA.  Once you have been in the VA system about 4 or 5 years, you finally realize its not the truth.  

Most VSO's, when they prepare a BVA brief for a VEteran to go to the BVA, remind the judges of Santa's reindeer, "the benefit of the doubt", which is to be delivered to each "good" Veteran on Christmas Eve.  Unfortuantely, the other 364 days of the year, you get the "real" VA.  

So, many of us hadit Vets have "hunkered down" for a long fight, and read and reread the CFR's and case law.  Then, many of us have helped other Vets before/after/during the long process of winning our benefits.  Im almost done...I have won 100 percent AND TDIU, and I am still fighting for SMC S and an earlier effective date.  Since I have not been able to work since 2002, and thats when I applied, I want that 2 more years of retro that I deserve, and SMC S.  As Alex posted, "Congress intended for (SMC S) to be awarded to Veterans who are unable to leave the home TO EARN AN INCOME, as oppossed to unable to leave the home at all."

(my paraphrase).  VA often misinterprets its own regulations to deny more VEts, and they denied me, essentially, because I showed up at VAMC for a housebound exam.  "You cant be housebound if you showed up for a housebound exam...Gotcha".  It isnt true.  The VA does not know its own defination of housebound, as defined by congress:

https://asknod.org/2014/08/25/cavc-howell-v-nicholson-what-smc-s-really-says/   in part:

In pertinet part:

Quote

The Secretary, citing to Senate Report No. 1745 (June 27, 1960), notes that in passing section 1114(s) Congress intended to provide additional compensation for veterans who were unable to overcome their particular disabilities and leave the house in order to earn an income as opposed to an inability to leave the house at all.

 

[WomanMarine]

10 hours ago, acesup said:

Did you collect travel pay when you went to that hospital?  This may not be of any assistance to you, but if the answer just happened to be "Yes", I'd see if the VA has 1976 financial records, just to prove you were there.

Do your VA records from 1979 through 1983 mention that you were seen/treated there in prior years?   

I doubt any of it was on computer back then, does the VA claim to have archived records from that era, but just not yours, or is this a problem that other vets had there too?

I don't recall that I got travel pay and the records mention does not have the SIX MONTHS of therapy included. 

No, there were no computers, or that the VA used in 1976.  I started building some of the first Internets in 1993.

39 minutes ago, broncovet said:

Many of us have gotten the "pro claimant non adversarial" laff.  I stopped laughing at about my 4 th BVA decision, when I still did not have all my benefits.  The "pro claimant non adversarial" stuff is the "SANTA CLause story" of the VA.  Once you have been in the VA system about 4 or 5 years, you finally realize its not the truth.  

Most VSO's, when they prepare a BVA brief for a VEteran to go to the BVA, remind the judges of Santa's reindeer, "the benefit of the doubt", which is to be delivered to each "good" Veteran on Christmas Eve.  Unfortuantely, the other 364 days of the year, you get the "real" VA.  

So, many of us hadit Vets have "hunkered down" for a long fight, and read and reread the CFR's and case law.  Then, many of us have helped other Vets before/after/during the long process of winning our benefits.  Im almost done...I have won 100 percent AND TDIU, and I am still fighting for SMC S and an earlier effective date.  Since I have not been able to work since 2002, and thats when I applied, I want that 2 more years of retro that I deserve, and SMC S.  As Alex posted, "Congress intended for (SMC S) to be awarded to Veterans who are unable to leave the home TO EARN AN INCOME, as oppossed to unable to leave the home at all."

 

 

I guess I am in for the "long haul" and will 'hunker' ...

I think I have done pretty well, in comparison to others, so I am grateful ... as I am now 90% P&T and 100% UI. I decided to file because of President Trump's promise.  I filed on 1/20/17, Trump's Inauguration day. 

I started this journey, of course during Vietnam because I thought my country needed me ... And they were going to give me training as a Air Traffic Controller ... Well that went 'bust' after boot when they sent me to Glynco, GA for training and they did an eye exam ... Funny that they did not do that PRIOR to my joining so I could have chosen another MOS. :/

After I was 'medically discharged' I got my first job out of the Corps with Southern Pacific Railroad, where I had another issue with my knee and the VA put me in a full leg cast for six months ... How could those records be LOST?!?

I was told, because I took the 'severance pay' that I did NOT QUALIFY for disability payments.  Later I learned that I did, but the severance would be taken out of the disability. So I decided to apply for Voc Rehab and get the 'training' the USMC did not give me. I was denied, as they said I did not have enough 'time in service' ...  I joined as a reservist and later went regular. They were only counting my 'regular' service days and not the prior training. But when I applied for VR, and was denied, they issued a SC Health Card and said I had a 0% rating.

I reapplied in 1980, when I had another accident because of my SC, with the knowledge that they would deduct my 'severance pay' from my disability ... And reapplied. However this time they demanded the return of my SC Health Card and TOTALLY REMOVED MY 0%, when they should have INCREASED IT! I was in a financial nightmare and eventually became 'homeless' in San Francisco ... The VA really could have helped during those days! Because I was homeless I did not receive my denial letter, but the records do indicated that I 'tried' to re-establish within the year, when I landed in Reno. The issue in 1980 is the same one that I am having today. Even though it was only FOUR years after I had my SIX month ORTHO in Los Angeles, they could not locate the records to establish that the SC had occurred within the first year of my discharge. I believe this is a CUE.

So the only thing I can think to do, at this point, is to FINALLY get my VR, as now they cannot deny? I guess I will see about that ...

AND take this 'fight' to the BVA. 

I am also going to try to track down my IRS file that shows that I was TERMINATED from my job because of this accident. Southern Pacific Railroad is no longer and I figure the IRS is my best option of proving that I lost my job because of this SC injury, during that time period.

The Corps may not have trained me as an Air Traffic Controller, but they did teach me to be a FIGHTER! 

Oohrah!

[Buck52]

I would add this too the VA Regs also state that the Adjudicators (Raters) CAN'T use going to VA Appointments as  in leaving your house for work in order to deny a veterans claim for SMC S H.B.