Rogue C&P Examiner?

[rk4435]

I figured out how to access my C&P exam through the blue button and I was shocked.  I have been rated at 20% for several years with an additional 10% for radiculapothy. 

The examiner notes read as if she was examining someone other than me.  She noted no radiculapothy and also somehow measured me at 45 degrees forward flexion.  It is like she literally lied on the DBQ. I have not had 45 degrees forward flexion in years and the radiculapothy is fairly persistent. 

 

If I understand the ratings correctly, her findings are good enough to get my rating lowered despite being much worse off than I was when the 20% was granted. 

 

Do they get performance bonuses to screw people?

[pwrslm]

25 minutes ago, Berta said:

 

It would be great if veterans or survivors of veterans ,who get a C & P exam that is faulty-complain to the Accountability Office:

https://www.va.gov/accountability/process.asp

Their email is in that link.

Thanks for that link Berta. It is another way to fight the bureaucracy. Ive been using the WH Hotline and been getting results. This is another tool in the toolbox we should all employ.

[Berta]

Thank you  Pwrslm!

My first call to the WH Hotline brought a response to me within about 3 weeks from former Secretary Shulkin's office.It grew out of suggestions I had made to the President  and the Secretary and change the claims process that had been implemented in the Modernization Act.I got a nice Thank you card from President Trump.

My last call was this past summer-I was furious to learn that the major malpractice problem at Fayetteville AR 

was considered by their interim director to be an "isolated incident" and apparently they were trying to keep this hush hush so I called the WH to let the President and Secretary know that over 20,000 veterans ( that total might actually be 30,000 vets or their survivors by now) got a letter advising them they might have been malpracticed  by a Fayetteville VA  "impaired pathologist". Three deaths have bee confirmed as caused by this malpractice and one of them I fully believe was Mike  "Stretch" Sasser, our long time radio technician here at hadit radio and at our former radio show that he himsef set up.  His wife got as lawyer right away.

My point to the Hot line was this- affected vets ,who should have gotten that letter ,might have moved far from Arkansas, and VA might not have ( or tried to find their forwarding address), plus VA is pretty good about sending out C & P  appt notices that veterans never get!

The vet is a no show, so their claim is denied.

When the OAWB contacted me, I have collected evidence for years on what VA is supposed to do regarding FTCA cases they settle.I sent the NBDP mandate and also links to GAO reports that prove they are not accounting for their malpractice statistic s properly- either under FTCA or under 1151. With the VA's influx of independent contractors, these medical professionals do not fall under 1151 or the FTCA. They would have to be sued in a federal civil court if they harm or kill a veteran. Under ection 1151,38 USC, vets have succeeded in 1151 issues for injuries VA caused that would not be worth the time and money spent to sue in a civil court-

but could still get a rating and a monetary benefit for any 1151 issue.But if an independent contractor caused their additional 1151 disability- they would get nothing-unless they pursued this in a civil court.

I feel every vet in the VA health care system has a right to know if the doctors, nurses etc who are diagnosing and treating them  are VA employees or are in fact independent contractors.

 

I was stunned at how many are now working at the local Bath NY VAMC.The search feature goes by facility, or name.

"Our Providers

The "Our Providers" online directory lists the primary licensed independent practice providers who may be a lead, ongoing member of your treatment team at the respective VA medical center. Providers in the following occupations are listed on this website: physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, physician assistants, chiropractors, certified registered nurse anesthetists, optometrists, podiatrists, and psychologists.

By using this tool, you will be able to do a search of providers in the occupations listed above based upon your preferences and needs. For each provider, you will see the following: full name; gender; clinical product line to which they are "assigned"; where they received their medical training; and the school from which they received their medical degree. This information will be "refreshed" on a monthly basis. There may be staff who have been hired or who have departed the medical center since the last refresh of information.

For additional information on physicians, we also encourage you to use the "DocInfo" service offered by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) at http://www.docinfo.org. The FSMB website is updated monthly and is a public website to provide information related to any physician who is licensed in any US state, territory, or district.

 

https://www.va.gov/health/OurDoctors.asp"

I

 

 

 

 

 

[seminoles]

18 hours ago, 63Charlie said:

 

 VHA providers often refuse to diagnose medical conditions.

i have screened positive multiple times for PTSD by VHA MH nurses.

No diagnosis of PTSD by them.

I reported ringing in my ears for years to VHA providers and no diagnose of tinnitus.

I had a spinal MRI done due to chronic back pain and three VHA doctors stated they reviewed the MRI results and all reported I had no abnormalities.

I obtained a copy of the actual radiologists report of my MRI and discovered that my pain was coming from a herniated disc pushing 1 cm into my thoracic spinal cord.

I was Baker acted by the VA in October 2017.

I had called the Veterans Crisis Line for help and they sent the cops to involuntarily institutionalize me.

Was released the next day and the vA was ringing my phone off the hook to come see their shrink.

I complied and the shrink asked me what happened and I said I had a total meltdown.

He responded that I was just having a pity party.

No more VA so-called medical care for me.

 

Sometimes C&P examiners will make honest mistakes, but oftentimes their DBQs ignore the facts when giving an opinion.

The raters at the regional office will afford more weight to an opinion that is against granting service connection/or an increase even when the STRs directly contradicts the rationale that the examiner used to form the unfavorable opinion against a veteran.

Don't believe in the fairy tale that a tie goes to the veteran if you have two C&P exams, one favorable and the other not favorable.

The regional office rater will find the unfavorable opinion more persuasive, and promptly render a denial.

 

Favorable evidence is ignored by my regional office raters, and this is especially obvious, now that I am at the precipice of obtaining TDIU or a 100% rating.

 

The VBA has a lot of tools in their shed that are implemented to deny benefits to veterans.

You have to get in the trenches with the VBA, and fight when they do wrong.

 

My fight for my benefits will go on.

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

Tell me you must not be in Florida where we having superb RO's and CP examiners LOL     Sadly, it isn't funny but incredibly true!!

[63Charlie]

I am a 30 minute drive to the " Mouse House " in FLA.

As for complaining about the crap C&P exams, I hope that the day will come when the right ears hear what I have to say.

That won't happen for a while unless the DRO that is currently looking at my NODS, has a " pity party ",  AND APPROVES MY CLAIMS.

Odds are about as good of that happening as they are of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot.

Edited October 20, 2018 by 63Charlie

[seminoles]

15 hours ago, 63Charlie said:

I am a 30 minute drive to the " Mouse House " in FLA.

As for complaining about the crap C&P exams, I hope that the day will come when the right ears hear what I have to say.

That won't happen for a while unless the DRO that is currently looking at my NODS, has a " pity party ",  AND APPROVES MY CLAIMS.

Odds are about as good of that happening as they are of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot.

I have never filed a nod, screw that.........I have had that RO pull some really dirty stuff, against the CFR 38 and I called them out on in by A. emailing with documented evidence that they were wrong every person I could think of in the VA top to bottom, I had a proposal to reduce my rating go from there to increasing me to 90% IU PT from 70% IU PT, (whereas the reduction would have lost my IU PT) with 4 items deferred, and an APOLOGY from the RO within two weeks of writing those emails, I was called first by a lovely woman who informed me I would be hearing from my RO within two weeks.  All of my service connected disabilities were at least 10 years old and none of them had improved at all, which was very obvious by the A and A form my neurologist filled out.......I received that letter to reduce in March, new letter in April and then after all my deferred issues were taken care of by November I was 100% PT with SMC L and K...........far cry from my beeswax reduction to 60% because of some quack who did my CP exam who was a GP and said I didn't have migraines, reduction from 50 to 0%, however my neurologist had my husband trained to give me injections in the year or so previously for my migraines, I am on 4 medications for them and my neuro filled out my A and A because they are so debilitating.  I don't mess around with talking to the RO or even my VSO at this point, they just tell you to file a NOD and sit back and wait for the hammer to drop.  I even had one examiner put that I may be malingering about a vestibular disorder, which was confirmed and diagnosed by Shands.  When you start sending supporting documentation like I had, only an idiot (or a rater) would say that you aren't disabled or it wasn't service connected.  I literally had to get on the phone with a guy from the RO and tell him what page in my AD records each issue was, they couldn't be bothered to look up where I had been seen during AD, lazy.

[acesup]

One C&P Nurse Practitioner's unfounded opinions can trump the opinions of several M.D. specialists, for sure.  I filed for several issues in May 2007 and October 2009.  The 2007 filing was apparently shredded, it was definitely lost.  In 2010, I had a C&P exam by one of the most hateful, nasty people I have ever met in my life.

 I filed for OSA secondary to meds for my 40% SC thoracolumbar spine  (DDD, arthritis, stenosis, etc.), had great opinion/nexus letters from two sleep specialist Pulmonary M.D.s.   The C&P NP said I had one "enlarged concha bullosa" and that literature indicates that it is a possible contributing factor in OSA, therefore my OSA was not related to my SC disability.

I had opinion/nexus letters and an IMO from two pulmonoligist M.D.s, one the head of pulmonary department and a professor at a major Texas med school stating that my DVT/PE (blood clots in legs, lungs) were likely caused by meds and lifestyle due to my injured spine.  The C&P NP said I had had an appendectomy, therefore the condition couldn't be related to my SC spine, but was caused solely by the non-SC appendectomy.

I had opinions from an M.D. and a chiropractor that my bilateral Sciatica was a result of my SC spine disabilty.  The C&P NP said it was a result of age and/or other undetermined causes, and claimed that my initial SC injury was only a "soft tissue" injury (as if it was a minor issue that should have been cured by a couple of aspirin or something).  It was not a soft tissue injury, the 1974 injuries showed damaged vertebrae.  Back then, there was no such thing as MRI, so the severity of the damage was not evident.

I claimed SC for my neck and upper extremity radiculopathy, which SMRs showed occurring at the same time as my lumbar injury.  The VA had shot my neck down a couple of times over the years, but at the time I was advised not to appeal, so I had not done so.  I submitted new evidence including some I had located recently in my service records and C-file, as well as opinion by a chiropractor.  The NP claimed she had no idea how my neck got in the shape it is in, so it couldn't possibly be SC.

Likewise for a couple other conditions, you get the gist of it.

Anything I could claim as secondary or aggravated by my SC spine, all for which I submitted GREAT opinion/nexus letters by qualified professionals, that NP could find some alternate possible contributing factor, and then submit it as the reason that my claimed condition occurred.  Her job, as she apparently saw it, was not to perform an unbiased examination, but simply to submit bases for denials of anything and everything I claimed.

And the worst of it was, the Waco VARO accepted every one of her rebuttals as gospel, while apparently ignoring completely all of the information and evidence I had submitted with my claim.

After appeals including DRO review, I had more C&P exams in 2011, and 2014.  Different NPs, same results.

Fast-forward to a couple months ago, August 7, 2018, when my appeal FINALLY was reviewed and decided by BVA.  

On all but two minor remanded issues, BVA granted every bit of my claim.  In the "reasons and bases" explanation, it was said over and over that the C&P examiners and VARO decisions had failed to consider the secondary/aggravation prongs of SC, that their evidence was of "no probative value", and they offered "no competent evidence", etc.  Each time, it was stated that MY evidence was the "only competent" evidence, etc.

Will C&P NPs and VSRs at the VAROs learn anything from this?  Not a chance!  

I'm not gloating, I'm just waiting for the BVA grants (including 100% TDIU and SMC (s), to be promulgated and the day I get that next BBE and a deposit.  I hope it happens some time BEFORE I croak, that would be nice.  74 days and trying not to count, so far.  LOL  

Edited October 21, 2018 by acesup
misstatement