REVISED GERD / IBS CUE, March 23, 2011 decision

[Justaskpat]

I was denied SC for IBS and GERD IN 2011. In 2019 I was awarded SC for GERD. This CUE  is for 2011, both GERD and IBS. There are some odd aspects regarding the 2011 decision, the way it was written and the C&P report and the way it was written. I've tried to present this as clearly as I can. Note: the decision contradicts itself. the decision also contradicts the C&P Report. Honestly, I think the rater just got confused because the C&P was so poorly written. *THIS CUE HAS NOT YET BEEN SUBMITTED*Please let me know what you think. Appreciate all comments and suggestions. Thanks.

11/19/19:  Uploaded additional C&P diagnoses and comments.  Uploaded 2019 C&P DBQ that resulted in SC for GERD. 

A lesson learned that I did not realize until today. In 2010, the C&P exam was for "Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), also claimed as colon polypectomy and Acid Reflux (GERD)". When I sent in "new evidence" in 2018, I sent it under "GERD" only. I should have submitted the new evidence under the exact same heading as was used in 2010.

 

VA RATING DECISION MARCH 23 2011 GERD IBS.pdf C P REPORT 7312010 GERD IBS.pdf GERD IBS CUE 2011(1).pdf

C P ADDENDUM REQUEST RE DIAGNOSIS 7232010.pdf

2011 C & P GERD IBS diagnoses comments.pdf 2019 C & P Report resulting in SC GERD.pdf

Edited November 19, 2019 by Justaskpat
Uploaded 2011 C&P GERD/IBS diagnoses/comments and 2019 C&P DBQ that resulted in SC GERD.

[Vync]

16 hours ago, Justaskpat said:

UPLOADED REVISED CUE.

Good luck!

Give it a couple of weeks and you should see it appear on va.gov with an estimated completion time.

[Justaskpat]

On 11/12/2019 at 11:56 AM, Vync said:

Good luck!

Thanks Vync.  You think it's good to go "as is" then?

[Vync]

2 hours ago, Justaskpat said:

Thanks Vync.  You think it's good to go "as is" then?

Well, if you submitted it then you probably felt it was good to go.

I didn't go over your final submission, but you appeared to be on the right track. With any claim, it is nice to get a fast win, but for CUE claims, it is important not to rush.

Regardless of the outcome, when they complete the CUE, I recommend you do what I will do. In 2000, I made the mistake of blindly believing the VA was thorough in their decision and just accepted the awarded ratings that arrived in the mail. This time I am going to go through their response very carefully. Did they correct the errors? Did they award the proper ratings? If not, was their reasoning solid? It is possible they might be correct or they very well could have committed another CUE. If another CUE happened, I'll just file another one.

My CUE submission was chewed on for quite a while. Having the help and guidance of other members here was greatly appreciated. Probably the toughest part I had was trimming out the unnecessary parts, focusing on each issue, and explaining the error clearly so a reasonable person would see which laws were never applied or were applied incorrectly.

One other thing that I did was call the White House VA Hotline and file a complaint about the VA web site being unclear about CUE forms. The VA goes out of their way to tell veterans which specific form they need to use to file different types of claims. However, they completely fail to tell veterans which form should be used to file a CUE. The HLR form does have a section where you can indicate if you feel an error was made, but you have to dive into the actual form to get there. If they want us to use HLR or another form, then need to tell us. I'm still not certain that it was the correct form. I filed a complaint at the WH VA Hotline asking that the VA update the CUE pages with specific instructions on what to do and which forms are required (now that the VA is mandating certain claims be filed on certain forms).

Now comes the wait that we all know too well. I'm just staying busy with other things and checking on it weekly just to keep my curiosity satisfied. Mine still shows estimated completion in March 2020, but who knows. Will find out eventually.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Vync

[Justaskpat]

1 hour ago, Vync said:

Well, if you submitted it then you probably felt it was good to go.

I haven't submitted it yet. I didn't think to change the date before I uploaded. Just finished it on Veteran's day, right before I uploaded it here. I was looking for critique or a blessing, if anyone had any suggestions.  Yes, I had the same problem getting started that you referred to and that was getting rid of all the superfluous redundant stuff that was meaningful only to me. I think I stripped this down pretty well. I was just hoping someone with experience (I have none) would take a peek. Geekysquid commented months ago, but I haven't seen him on here for awhile now. I was looking for you, @GeekySquid, maybe even @Berta, although I know she's very busy from what I recall. You three are the ones I've seen the most frequently. Thanks for all your above comments. Get this - when a CUE is approved, DFAS pays within a week. I'm USCG. I was given 100% SC as of 12/18, decision dated 5/19. I probably won't see that money until the end of 2020, even if I'm lucky. With CG, VA sends info to CG, they have to do an audit, then CG sends info back to VA and then they pay. CG is understaffed and because of the gov't shutdown they got back logged at least a year. They've acknowledged receipt. A month ago I called and was told to check back in another 90 - 120 days.  As for any CUEs that might be approved, I'll probably be an old man before I see that money. Still going to go for it though!  Yes! I thought about them making a mistake on the correction of a CUE and wondering if I could CUE the mistake, so thanks for mentioning that also! I will stay busy as well. There are a couple other CUEs I can work on in the meantime.

[Justaskpat]

On 9/9/2019 at 11:01 PM, paulstrgn said:

I don’t want them to guess what I am looking for, so I try and write it as simple as possible.

Hello Paulstrgn .  If you get a minute, could you take a look at my CUE and tell me what you think? Thanks

[Justaskpat]

On 9/9/2019 at 11:56 PM, doc25 said:

 You may have a CUE for getting assigned the highest rating. 

Hi @doc25. I finally got my CUE written. If you get a chance, have the time, could you read it over briefly to see if it sounds clear? I tried to clean it up and tie everything together. Thanks again for your above input!  Never know, maybe I will get lucky.

Edited November 14, 2019 by Justaskpat