Rating a Mental Health claim

[Mover1993]

Morning all,

I've read my c&p and apparently (according to you all) it is favorable. On box 3A my doctor checked "Occupational and Social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity". Along with checking symptoms that are in both the 70 and 50% categories as well as one symptom in the 30% category. My question is will the rater simply see which box is checked in 3A and give me a rating based on that? 

[GeekySquid]

2 hours ago, broncovet said:

If there is no such thing as a lowball or improper denial,

ahh another hyperbolic misstatement of the words presented... but it is to be expected.

The hair-on-fire postings are just plain boring at this point.

The VA is not out to get you. The likely reasons for a "lowball' include:

1) a poorly formed claim

2) poor documentation

3) thousands of pages just thrown at the rater with the expectation they will dig through it

4) poorly trained rater

5) poorly trained up-line from the rater.

6) they just don't believe you.

4 of those are under the veterans control, the other 2 are just a reality.

None of us are issued a VA-to-Human dictionary so having raggedy claims is kind of understandable at first. People with MH issues are already likely to be anxious about things in general and the VA gobblydegook doesn't help.

none of it proves intent by the VA to harm veterans, no matter how many times you shout that they are... and you personally shout it a lot on here.

It is not a conspiracy by the Raters / VARO or any of the Rank and File.. the same may not be true of the right wing politicians, Koch Brothers, Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation all of whom actively want to privatize the VA to give more handouts to non-tax paying billion-dollar companies owned by cronies.

The Private C&P Companies and their employees are more likely to be out to "lowball" vets to gain the financial incentives built into their contracts....which not so surprisingly are being protected in court, by DOJ, from being fully revealed...sound like so much other stuff in the current administration to anyone?

Bottom line it is a duty of those of us who have gotten through the muck to help others through it. It is not to spin them out of control with conspiracy theories and grandiose claims of perpetual victimhood.

[Buck52]

On the path to adjudicating  claims  each veteran will have a different story to tell from his/her experience.

what happens to one veteran don't necessarily mean it will happen to other veterans, so its very hard to compare with other veterans experiences  but its nice to know about these experiences  so we won't be so surprised

There was a veteran on here  not to long ago  A vietnam vet and he had a handfull of claims  and some from the Nehmer Presumption claims. he had no records and could not get his records   he tried every place under the sun to get his records  to prove his claim  those records was his evidence   so he was denied on all claims  and is still trying to get his records   He is at the congress level now but has been there before,

  as for as I know he still has not received any of his records  and he claims to be boots on the ground Infantry in Vietnam  was inured in the line of duty and had to be medevac out of Nam...he has no records of that and can't get them .

he came here looking for help and we all gave him some information  and he supposedly did what we all had him to do as for as trying to get his records   he still claims they are no where to be found.. he is getting on up there in age 73 I think? He mention, and he is sick from A.O.  But he has been denied on all his claims...no records no claim.

I feel so sorry for this veteran.

[Mover1993]

On 7/27/2019 at 11:31 PM, GeekySquid said:

The different examples in each percentage listed in the CFR and on the DBQ are just that, examples. There are many analogous conditions in the DSM and the CFR by statute wholly incorporates the current DSM, at all times the Current DSM.

When you see mentions of conditions from different Strata in an particular conditions definitions it does not mean that that strata or percentage is the one you will get. The raters will essentially glob them together and decide which strata your overall picture as laid out in the DBQ, notes and code sheet most accurately reflects you condition. Remember also that by law this is supposed to be a non-adversarial process and all benefit of the doubt goes to the veteran. So if you have a lot of things listed and most of them are at higher percentages you will get that higher percentage. If you just have tons and tons of lower percentage items you will get bumped up a strata or even two.

Every case is different as is every C&P Doctor and Every Rater....it is a crap shoot.

Thanks for the reply, Geeky

I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens or if i'm "Lowballed". I hope i'll know soon

[McRay]

Mover, how did you get a copy of your C&P exam? Mine just went right in the file although I did get a 50% rating. I'm going to see if the attorney has a copy. On a different note, I went into the exam as scruffy as possible, unshaven, dirty clothes, etc.. The dr. was one of the most attractive women I've seen in a long time and really nice. She was a contractor. Past experience with VA raters was completely opposite -- more like nurse Cratchet in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

[Mover1993]

On 8/1/2019 at 4:54 AM, McRay said:

Mover, how did you get a copy of your C&P exam? Mine just went right in the file although I did get a 50% rating. I'm going to see if the attorney has a copy. On a different note, I went into the exam as scruffy as possible, unshaven, dirty clothes, etc.. The dr. was one of the most attractive women I've seen in a long time and really nice. She was a contractor. Past experience with VA raters was completely opposite -- more like nurse Cratchet in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Some odd details you went into there but nevertheless, I got a copy of my exam by going to MyHealthVet. I could do this because my exam was through the VA. I don't think you are able because its a contract exam and you would need to file a FOIA.

[McRay]

Odd details.. not surprising.. I'm an odd guy. I finally did get a copy of the C&P exam and I was surprised by a couple of things. Dr. said I didn't have PTSD but depressive disorder stemming from service connected incident. Then went on to check all the boxes that indicated a PTSD dx. Vets.gov says my claim for PTSD was granted and also for depressive disorder. This stuff is confusing to say the least. You were correct on the contract and FOIA. Thanks for the reply