Ask Your VA Claims Question | Current Forum Posts | Search | Rules | View All Forums
VA Disability Articles | Chats and Other Events | Donate | Blogs | New Users
- 0
Claim sent back for medical opinion
Rate this question
Ask Your VA Claims Question | Current Forum Posts | Search | Rules | View All Forums
VA Disability Articles | Chats and Other Events | Donate | Blogs | New Users
Rate this question
Question
HeatherW
Good afternoon, I filed a claim in December for a number of issues (initial claim). I was a preparation for decision until last week when I returned to gathering of evidence. I called and found that they were requesting the following medical opinion from the C&P examiner:
Is digestive disorder secondary to PTSD
Is PTSD Service Connected
How long does it typically take for the examiner to respond with this information (do they give them a time limit like 30 days and why wouldn't the examiner have not put whether they felt the disorders were service connected or not) and do you think this looks hopeful for me based on the following? I feel that asking questions is much better than straight up denying me. I'm a little sad because my completion date used to be this week and because of this request it's now pushed back until August.
Long story short, I was medically discharged due to anxiety and depression with documented issues in my medical record regarding digestive problems (inability to gain weight and more). The doctors in the Navy specifically said my anxiety and depression were permanent and service connected - I'm grateful they used those words. During my enlistment I was the victim of a MST but back in the early 90s they dealt with things very differently. While there was a hearing and the offender was discharged from the Navy, the retaliation I suffered was severe and essentially career ending. So when I filed my claim in December I filed for anxiety, depression, PTSD due to MST, digestive disorders. I am hopeful the VA will not be likely to deny the service connection for anxiety and depression and the C&P examiner that I had stated as much considering my military records documented it pretty well. The VA should have been able to find the MST report (I showed it was requested and the request closed), especially because the offender was also active duty and discharged because of it.
I ended up having 2 separate mental health C&P exams, one for anxiety/depression, and one for PTSD/digestive disorder/eating disorder. From what I've researched, I know I will only be rated for one mental health condition and it's supposed to be the one that has the highest rating. Does the above imply that they are considering giving me a rating for the digestive disorder (as opposed to dismissing it), just wanting to know if it's related to the PTSD? Is it a separate disability or would they lump it under a symptom of PTSD (to avoid pyramiding). Has anyone had the rater ask for a medical opinion/clarification from the C&P examiner and how long did that take?
Thank you for reading :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Top Posters For This Question
3
2
1
Popular Days
Mar 18
4
Mar 17
1
Mar 21
1
Top Posters For This Question
HeatherW 3 posts
Berta 2 posts
john999 1 post
Popular Days
Mar 18 2020
4 posts
Mar 17 2020
1 post
Mar 21 2020
1 post
5 answers to this question
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now