Odd IRIS response for a C & P exam

[Berta]

I still think whoever wrote this C & P ( as it appears in a 2015  SOC ) is the guy who fills their paper cup dispenser at the RO water cooler-

This is my second response from IRIS:

We have forwarded your Freedom of Information Act request to Intake Processing Center Management.  They will research this issue further and respond to you directly regarding their findings.

 

It was not a FOIA-I am the claimant so the record belongs to me.

They said I could re-open the request but must do that within 14 days, by a response.

I don't like deadlines from the VARO- I said I am giving them until Jan 15, 2019 ( 14 days) to find that C & P exam, or I will file a complaint with the OAWB-

which will have attachments of all of their bogus C && P exams I have received since 1995.

I won the claim under CUE that this pertains to , in less than a month after fiing the CUE- that isn't the point-

The actual claimant is dead- death by VA -24 years ago and cannot speak for himself. So I have been the claimant since he died.

My husband feared the VA would pull my chain if he did not live much longer-(1994) but the VA has a chain to pull as well----

This is the insidious BS  they pull on widows but certainly pull it on Many vets as well.

My evidence, noted in the denial, was available to the "examiner" yet the "examiner chose to ignore a valid ,concise opinion from VA's Top cardio doctor and made up some ridiculous medical stuff ,instead. If the the ROs can find anyone who will try to completely rebutt an opinion from a top VA doctor- whose specialties involved this claim, and get away with it, 

I guess we could all end up in the crapper. 

This is why we still have a BIG appeals  Backlog and why we must rebutt lousy C & P exams with probative evidence-and if they ignore that evidence, a CUE can be filed the same day you get the denial.

I have filed CUE on the CUE above that they awarded.

It has become my favorite avenue of attack.

I have no idea what the Intake Processing Center Management could do. Does anyone here know?

"They will research this issue further and respond to you directly regarding their findings." I named the man who called me from the Buffalo VARO and said they had already picked someone to do this C & P exam-so he knows who did it.I wonder if the "examiner' even works for VA or any contractor- they said he was from the BuffaloVA. I also wonder if it was written by the RO VSO who called me, (who is NOT a medical professional at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2019 by Berta

[broncovet]

Berta:

    Yes, there is no doubt VA sends us to C and P exams with examiners who are "not qualified".  In my case, the Doc's MD did not qualify her, as she had no experience in sleep medicine.  

We go to a VAMC, see an examiner in "medical looking uniforms" and assume they are qualified.  They could be a janitor who picked up the doc's coat and stethascope.  

The VA should have nametags which identify employees, along with their title, "Doctor", NP, Janitorial services, administrative assistant, etc.  Pretending to be a doctor, when one is not is a crime, but not at VA.  They get away with that because examiners do not "treat" patients, they simply advise the VA.  

    In answer to Buck's very good question, "how do we prevent this (being denied by a bad c and p exam", that is a problem.  

Here is why:

    We can REQUEST VA give us a copy of the c and p exam BUT they dont always honor that request, and we find out it was a bad exam after a 5 year appeal.  Its also exceptionally difficult to find out the qualifications of the examiner (or lack therof), especially 5 years later when that examiner may well have moved on to better things.  

     Still, Vets should seek a copy of the c and p exam as soon as possible after the exam, and, sometimes they can get it right away.  The Vet should also ask the qualifications of the examiner, probably at the exam.  (Is the examiner an MD, are they board certified, is their license active, etc.)  

    The problem is always "time" and its usually not on the Vets side.  Waiting 5 years to get a c and p exam "in the RBA" after a board denial is not a great option.  We should be able to obtain  a c and p exam "before" the decision.  This should be a part of our "due process".  In "regular" (non VA) criminal court, the accused's lawyer gets to see the evidence before the trial, so that his lawyer can "refute" bad evidence, for example, if the lab had its certification revoked.  We deserve this same due process, and VA gets away with it by self proclomation they are a "non adversarial", "Veteran friendly" institution.  If the Va was so "Veteran friendly non adversarial", then why are there hundreds of thousands of appeals waiting to be processed???

 

[Berta]

Right- Our Duty to Assist regs should be called Duty to Resist.

"We go to a VAMC, see an examiner in "medical looking uniforms" and assume they are qualified.  They could be a janitor who picked up the doc's coat and stethascope." That is true-

Also many VA doctors these days have a Office in the VAMCs and wear lanyards with badges that says they are doctors , and treat vets as if they are VA doctors, but they are actually non VA employees,contracted to the VA, as doctors and cannot be  sued for malpractice-

Some of them I bet are Very good doctors, but if they mess up a vet ,the vet or their survivors cannot file 1151 claims or FTCA claims. They have to directly sue the contractor or the doctor in a federal court.