VA's Updates July 2019 AO Ships list

[Berta]

Yow-they said it would not take too long, just the other day  and they were right- I was googling a BWN veteran's  ship for him, that was apparently not on the older list and it popped right up in the New List!  Good thing I checked it out He has an AO presumptive.

[DOC]

U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships that operated in Vietnam

 

https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/docs/shiplist.docx

 

 

 

 

[Berta]

Also:

This BVA case contains rating info for Prostate cancer:

It is a long read but I know you will be willing to peruse it:

The veteran had been properly given a 100% rating for 6 months , but after those 6 months the VA reduced his PC rating to “0”.

They subsequently granted a 20% rating for his residuals.

Unfortunately this was their decision in part- there were others claims he filed as well:

“The reduction of the evaluation of the service-connected prostate cancer from 100 percent to noncompensable was proper.

 

Entitlement to a rating in excess of 20 percent for urinary frequency as a residual of prostate cancer is denied.

 

Entitlement to SMC for loss of use of a creative organ from April 16, 2013 is granted.”

 

By all means, if you have ED, this is a good case to read, you don’t have to tell us, but definitely claim SMC for loss of use of a creative organ.The veteran in this case had ED from the prostate surgery itself.

Also the case reveals the veteran had a scar due to the prostate surgery.You could claim that as well if it  fits into an area larger than the BVA found, and if it is painful or unstable.

But the BVA stated:

“The Veteran's scar from prostate surgery was not painful or unstable and did not have a total area greater than 39 sq. cm. “ and did not consider that specific  scar anymore, in the decision.

https://www.va.gov/vetapp17/files6/1734227.txt

It is a long read but a very informative one. I have learned as much from BVA awards as from their denials.

 

 

 

 

 

[Richard Reeder]

2 hours ago, Berta said:

I think you are absolutely correct---it appeared to me that my RO (Buffalo) held back my AO IHD claim, from the Phila RO who handles widows accrued issues now, but  I have filed it on the new accrued forms.

The Stay could be lifted- but then again the regulations have not been published.

I wonder if you are the USS Mount Katmai vet who was on the American Legion comment section.

I posted our web site there many times since September, but haven't seen any BWN vet or their survivors here yet, except for you, and the lawyer at NVLSP agred with me that VA has to do a lot more to get the word out on these significant decisions ( Procopio and HR 299) 

You could file a CUE !

With proof of your exposure ( your deck logs) and proof that you have Prostate cancer,which VA already knows, citing HR 299 ( the link is here) as well as Procopio. Maybe the CUE would get you a faster result than appealing their denial. Still it all depends on the Stay.

I was in the Gardner Moratorium ( Stay) and that caused my 1151 claim to get drawn out for many additional months, although I had already proved I fit into the Gardner decision. This is funny now but it pissed me off when it happened.... I had sent to my VARO the full settlement I had made with the USA ( under auspicesof OGC)

and it was for the same charges I had made under 1151 ( wrongful death). The RO at that point had ignored all of my probate evidence for the claim, but I felt they would award based on the settlement facts, but they denied AGAIN! I was so poed I called General Counsel and got the lawyer there who settled with me- ( I always kept notes)

I said" Tim this is Berta Simmons." ( He said "OH NO- You were so tough to deal with! What is wrong?"-I said 'the VA owes me more money----- because I guess your settlement papers with me have no interest toVA, and they ignored them and denied my 1151 AGAIN!" He as stunned to hear that, and either Bradshaw or Hipolet -OGC-( forget who) ordered my VARO to grant the claim! A mere few weeks went by and I got my 1151 award. 

As I mentioned here years ago the Philadelphia Nehmer VARO  RO denied my AO IHD death claim right away, I filed CUE the very next day, and in a few weeks I got the IHD award, a SMC CUE award ( that claim had been filed in 2003 with no BVA transfer yet, and something else forget what- the decision is 46 pages long.

My point is we deal with idiots at ROs sometimes. Or they are just poorly trained, or illiterate----

I recently gave the IG a full rundown on what happened to me as a AO widow( I have two DIC AO awards)and I fear this could happen to any widow of a BWN AO vet as well as  AO vets who fell under Nehmer 2010 and were denied for ridiculous reasons, and might never have been advised to appeal the denial.

I need to thank you Richard , for being so Well educated in the BWN AO situation!

I hope the AL comment section vets and widows do join here eventually-

because as our Motto here says "Knowledge is Power" so very true-   and particularly since the VA ( I have had claims experiences personally now for 24 years), the VA -in many cases-does not Want us to really know Anything that can get us to a successful resolve.If VA really did do all claims correctly, we would not have been here on hadit, in existence now for almost 23 years.

Thanks for telling us how recent your decision was.  And for being here-I bet many BWN vets are in the same 'boat ' as you are, denied already ,with recent decisions based on the pending regulations, and don't know what to do----unfortunately we have to wait .....

I told JR ,the president  of BWNVVA, as soon as HR 299 was signed, that I have been waiting for years to help with those claims---and he mentioned when I wrote the first tentative Amendment- and he said that was what- ten, 12 years ago? ( But Maybe just 8-9years ago but it seems like a lifetime.)

This whole thread with your posts is Very important.

NVLSP ( who won Nehmer long ago) and many vet orgs and lawyers are still telling BWN AO vets to file their claims.

This is part of email from my NVLSP contact person : (Rick was my past NVLSP contact lawyer for the AO claims of 2010 regulations.)

 

"Dear Mrs. Simmons,

  Thank you for your email. Rick Spataro is still at our firm, but currently works in another division. The Procopio decision and Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 does grant retroactive disability benefits to Blue Water Veterans who served on ships within 12 nautical miles off the coast of Vietnam. However, the VA will not automatically review these veterans’ files, therefore we are encouraging all veterans and their surviving family members to submit renewed claims. The VA will review these cases after January 1, 2020."

 

I need to add that they also need to submit any past denial of any presumptive disability, that VA denied and coded as NSC with a rating , or 'should have coded' ( Footnote  One Nehmer ) for the best EED they can get.

 

Did they give you a prostate cancer rating on the denial or maybe they never gave you a C & P exam yet.......?

 

 

 

 

There is no rating on my denial. I have never had a C&P exam yet. The reason was I was at urologist at the Va was because they found blood in my urine. They made my appointment so I talked to the urologist. He set an appointment for me for a c-scan with dye and another appointment with him for the scope to check my bladder. They really found nothing. The urologist was the type that I wish all Vets would have. So easy to talk to made me feel so at ease. He made me feel like he really cared. He even gave me his card with his extension on it and told to call him anytime. I have had leakage all these yrs and he set me up an appointment with a outside the VA doctor about a cure for it.

I am self educated about the VA. Since my being denied. I have read so much on the ins and outs of the system. I thank God for people like you that pass along the experience that you have had to help make the path better for others. In my case I do not know what what is the best way yet. I really like your opinion and what you would suggest I do. Thank you so much                               

[Berta]

Richard  -Thank you for those kind words. It sounds like you have an excellent urologist!

it appears that you could re file the claim, with your Deck log evidence, or appeal the denial, but it also appears to me that you could file  CUE, with that evidence, and that might be the best  and fastest way to go-

 

I will prepare a tentative CUE  and post it here-----might be tomorrow- ------

I did a presentation for some members of my church last Thursday which brought done very interesting results- 

because I mentioned my husband in the presentation and his service in Vietnam and Agent Orange.

We have quite a few vets and also some adult children of vets  who are serving now in my church.

I was presented with contact from someone locally who might be a Blue Water Navy  AO widow, but that has become a difficult situation-----

Many BWN vets are dead and many either never had a VA claim or if they did, all that paperwork  is probably all stuck in a box somewhere in a basement.And many widows ,even if they tried to file a DIC or accrued claim,  might have given up at the first denial, long ago .

The widow someone referred me to cannot use a PC and cannot recall some of the most important things that  could support her claim. She was sure he was on a ship in the 7th fleet during the Vietnam War but was not sure what ship it was or what he died from .I will try to get her an appointment with the local vet reps at the VAMC, but hope she understands what she needs to get  and what she should bring with her to the appointment.

I hope her adult children can help her as well  to find his records, and I often see this because often widows do not remember what their spouse's VA issues were , and I bet many never file a DIC and/or accrued claim, regardless of where and when the veteran''s service occurred.,, and should have....

And of all of widows claims I have seen for decades- AO or not, sometimes there is no real basis for any SC death claim at all, but VA will also consider them for a possible Wartime pension, if the deceased vet served during wartime ( regardless of where), and if the survivor's income is not too high. considering their medical expenses as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Berta]

I am waiting for a call or email from the General Counsel-that could potentially help or support a CUE claim for your AO issues.

I might have mentioned this in the AO forum already-

in this BVA decision:

https://www.va.gov/vetapp19/files4/19132156.txt

They mention  a General counsel advisory opinion VAOPGADVIS 1-19 (Mar. 29, 2019), as to the new AO BWN claims under HR 299 and Propocio.

That opinion is not at the OGC cite and I asked the BVA ombudsman where I could obtain it and they advised me to contact the OGC accreditation department.

Hopefully I will hear back from OGC soon, and then could develop a CUE for you-based on what VA knw and when they knew it ( The Watergate question) , and thus knew they should have developed your claim further ,before they denied it,or at least held it into the Moratorium ( Stay) on BWN vet claims.

I might have asked you  already- did the VA send you the 5103 form? Even if they did, they probably did not tell you what evidence they needed to have.(or in my case, I listed my evidence that they had and that I was sending again with a 5103 Waiver some years ago that a VSO at my RO verified they had, piece by piece and they STILL ignored it until I filed CUE.

[Berta]

Office of General Counsel just emailed me this:

https://www.veteranslawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/VAOGC-Adv-Opinion-re-Procopio-3.29.2019.pdf

I will also out it into another topic, in the AO forum- and have to leave but will deficer it later.

[Berta]

Can you possible scan and attach here (( Cover C file # etc) the actual denial you got and their evidence list- if they even prepared one?

I feel you should appeal the denial, but first a CUE claim might well alleviate the need for a NOD.

It is hard to prepare a valid CUE without seeing the actual denial of September 2019.

I believe paragraph 4 and 5 of the March Memorandum from the General Counsel will support the CUE but it is geared solely to BVA remands of certain Blue Water Navy veterans ....such as the one in the BVA decision I posted above:

VA’s General Counsel has indicated that some cases before the Board that were affected by the Procopio stay may be capable of immediate decision, for example if the evidence indicates that the Veteran served on board a ship that went within the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of Vietnam.  General Counsel Advisory Opinion, VAOPGADVIS 1-19 (Mar. 29, 2019).  For the above reasons, this is such case.  See also 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(c) (“The development of evidence in connection with claims for service connection will be accomplished when deemed necessary but it should not be undertaken when evidence present is sufficient for this determination”).  As the Veteran has current lung cancer and prostate cancer and he is presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, service connection for lung cancer and prostate cancer is warranted on a presumptive basis.

 

"VA’s General Counsel has indicated that some cases before the Board that were affected by the Procopio stay may be capable of immediate decision, for example if the evidence indicates that the Veteran served on board a ship that went within the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of Vietnam.  General Counsel Advisory Opinion, VAOPGADVIS 1-19 (Mar. 29, 2019).  For the above reasons, this is such case.  See also 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(c) (“The development of evidence in connection with claims for service connection will be accomplished when deemed necessary but it should not be undertaken when evidence present is sufficient for this determination”).  As the Veteran has current lung cancer and prostate cancer and he is presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, service connection for lung cancer and prostate cancer is warranted on a presumptive basis."

https://www.va.gov/vetapp19/files4/19132156.txt

But thefact is that BWN  AO vets are being requested to file their claims, which would be part of the Moratorium and than be addressed by the ROs after the moratorium was lifted.

I need to do some more research...maybe the last letter I  got my AO IHD death will help-----

but I need to see what regulations the VA used in your denial in order to prepare a valid CUE.

I also need to ask my NVLSP contact person what instructions the VA ROs  have gotten on BWV AO claims, as far as the moratorium goes.