C&P Exam at the VA

[paulstrgn]

I have been scheduled for a C&P exam with the VA. I have never had a C&P with the VA itself. My question is what should I expect?

I am concerned that they will be more arbitrary than seeing QTC or other contractor.

What should I expect? It is a re-exam for my back.

[GeekySquid]

9 hours ago, paulstrgn said:

he was telling me that I should not have been rated for some nerve issues because she does not see evidence of radiculopathy and that I should not have been rated for four I have been rated. She also asked the question if you lose these ratings will it drop you below 100%, I said yes

this to me is key to the development to deny paradigm.

If she is not supposed to give a medical opinion and then states anything like this in the notes or DBQ, you have them. it is a medical opinion based on her supposed credentials.

[Buck52]

Geeky  I know what ya mean

I think I was lucky at my C&P being prepared  with all my evidence  I had a nice looking Black  Phyistrist Female....> Veteran her self .

She was maybe 40ish or so After she introduced herself and mention to me what all she was there for and that  I needed to answer some questions ect,,,ect,,,, she said ''I have read your records Mr Smith  and I read about your stressors  I will not be asking you questions about your stressor's  I have read about them in your records'' she said why bring back some horrific memory's.''..

anyway I said Thank you mam...and the rest of the exams was just about my behavior did you think about harming your self or someone today? No Mam /I do Isolate myself don't like to socialize,  never get out in public  if I can help it  ect,,,ect,, and  if I drink I said no not at this time I use too and she said  '' I read you are in treatment from VA MH ?'' I said yes mam  right now I am doing the CPT and doing self taught breathing  treatments help  with my anxiety, I am learning the tools to cope  with this  from my VA therapist & License Clinical social worker

I do have some guilt from Nam  as to why me  why did I get to come home and my buddy didn't? I said  I have night mares and night sweats happen every night , Isee things and smeel things that reminde me of my Nam days  as to which I am working on that in therapy I said I have some things that bother me pretty hard from my Nam days   and she said'' I understand Mr Smith ''hopefully the therapy that your in will ease some of your burden  ect,,ect,,,

Anyway few more questions  that were about the reason I was there  and she stood up and said well that's it  do you have any more questions Mr Smith? you want to ask me about? I said no mam  I think you covered them all.

..then she said   I will write my report and send it to the VA within a week, it was nice meeting you Mr Smith   And Thank you For your sacrifices while in the military,  I said thank you for yours too mam  & from one Veteran to another I salute you mam...that was it I walk out... recieved a 70% Rating   which I had maybe figured 30%50%

That rating got me to 100% scheduler and SMC S..Since I filed a claim for ED and got the SMC K loss of use of an body organ  it was service connected at 0% based on secondary to my PTSD.

this exam was maybe 60/70 minutes.

But this examiner stayed with what I was there for and conducted this exam like the exams should be. ( which is very rare) This Was a QTC Exam  and the examiner was very professional and Nice.  Again I was lucky to get her  for my examiner.

so   the point here is basically the luck of the draw on these examiners that we get to do our C&P's

[GeekySquid]

6 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

so   the point here is basically the luck of the draw on these examiners that we get to do our C&P's

this is so true. it is a crap shoot.

8 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

I do have some guilt from Nam  as to why me  why did I get to come home and my buddy didn't?

this is often the part for us to get a grip on. I don't know any person who gets "over it" but we can get better in how we deal with those feelings. I have these feelings every day and expect to have them as long as I live. But they are old friends now, I get sad about them, but work real hard not to let them build up.

10 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

I have night mares and night sweats happen every night , I see things and smell things

ditto

on a tangent to this subject, I keep toying with the idea of creating an AI to scour our records instead of just relying on the rating teams. The value of course is that the AI can be programmed to uncover the possible secondaries and areas where the VA has a Duty to Assist, Notify and Infer, in a much more efficient way. We wouldn't want to rely completely on an AI, but for the heavy lifting of scouring and "tabbing" different conditions, medical reports, dates, events, etc. an AI could remove a great deal of the problems with things being "missed" by the rating teams.

It may be a project I take on in the next phase of my life, which may just start tomorrow lol. depends on my mood lol

[GBArmy]

Buck and Geeky Thank you for sharing your personal thoughts and problems and how you have managed to cope with them. I have nothing but great admiration for you two guys; your guidance and experience, based in part on what you have had to go thru, have literally helped hundreds of veterans and I know that is what drives you. Thank you my friends for doing what you do.

[paulstrgn]

I also thank you Buck and Geeky for sharing and your willingness to help all vets.You two as well as many others are still serving your country by providing advice and guidance to all the veterans out there on this site!!!

[paulstrgn]

Here is the email I just sent to the Chief of Staff for the VA. I redacted a small portion of the email that I am not comfortable sharing in this format. If and when I get a response I will also posted it here. Also I am not the best of writers but I try my best.

Dear Ms. Powers - Chief of Staff of VA,

 I apologize for emailing you but I wanted to share my experience from my C&P exam performed at the Hampton VA Medical Center on 9/19/2019.

 The medical examiner started out by saying that once you reach 100% you should stop requesting disabilities for the VA will try to reduce you. This statement surprised me for I know that this should not be the VA practice. Many veterans have already fought in wars for our country, they should not have to fight another war with the VA so they can be granted disabilities that were incurred while serving our great nation. As you can imagine such statements discourage veterans from filing for disabilities that happened or was caused by our military service.

 I also want to describe my C&P exam itself. I had gone in to have my back evaluated. I have had several evaluations performed by LHI and QTC previously for claims on my back. I had always been told by the examiner checking me for range of motion (ROM) that I should stop when it started to hurt. The VA examiner yesterday told me that the requirements had changed and I was supposed to move as much as possible and that after moving by myself she would also move me to see if I can move more. She said this was because of a Supreme Court ruling. I was very surprised by this but did not stop her. This examination was so painful for me. She took all ROM measurements after she moved my body more, not what I could move but what she could move me. You must keep in mind as a veteran you are at their mercy, I can’t walk out or stop the exam for it would result in a denial. This was such a painful examination to where I was in pain the rest of the day and I am still hurting as I type this email. My wife tried to get me to go to the emergency room yesterday because I was in such pain, I told her no for it was not an emergency and I would just have to wait it out until the pain lessens. No examination should cause a veteran such pain as mine did, it was not fair or right to inflict such pain as she did. She also asked me several times if I was using my CPAP machine, I was recently service connected for sleep apnea by the BVA. I have no idea why she asked me if I used my CPAP for it has nothing to do with my back. It was like she was looking for a reason to have my SA called into question. To be honest I wonder if I should write you this email for I fear that the examiner might write an unfavorable C&P if questioned about this, but I know you need to know this so I will take the chance.

 I write this so that you are aware of what some veterans experience during a C&P exam, I know this does not happen with all C&P exams performed by the VA but it certainly happened in mine.

 Thank you,

 Paul