My laughable denial..a comparison to a parapelegic

[JKWilliamsSr]

Just when I thought I heard it all I get my final denial letter and It is so stupid I find it funny.  It is just further proof that raters will look for anything to deny a veteran.   In this instance I attempted to tie my obesity to my service connected disabilities which led to other issues.  Here are my ratings (for now)

10% left knee (increase denied will appeal)
10% right knee (increase denied will appeal)
10% Bilateral Pes Planus (will appeal I should be at a minimum 50% they did not adjudicate my Plantar Fasciitis either)
30% Asthma

My contention is that as my disabilities got worse my activity lessened.   I can't even walk without pain let alone exercise and that led to my beginning to gain weight.

So the rater that took my claim made the following statements.

"The examiner further stated that your service connected condition does not preclude all forms of exercise.  For example paraplegics exercise and maintain appropriate  Body Mass Index (BMI)

"Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive food intake, lack of physical activity, which is a choice"

First of all comparing my situation to a paraplegic is irresponsible and to be honest just flat stupid.   A paraplegic gets no muscle stimulation in their legs and sadly they lose muscle mass and their legs are nothing but skin and bones.  Their exercise is limited to upper body exercise and it is easy to maintain that the active muscles in your body are minimal. 

The fact that the examiner and rater state that my excessive food intake and lack of physical activity is a choice I made shows they ignored my statements.  In my personal statement, a statement from my spouse and ex-spouse we all stated the pain I am in when I try to exercise and we also all stated the numerous diets that we tried and was unsuccessful in my losing weight.   Then you have to take into account I have asthma and I have to take medication daily to control it.  My asthma is service connected as well.  I have a lot of shortness of breath when I exercise.

What a complete joke.

[Buck52]

Roger that Fat.

[JKWilliamsSr]

7 hours ago, Fat said:

Folks, in my time on Hadit and filing my VA claims, I have come to one conclusion.

What can go wrong, will go wrong and make sure you cover all three steps of the Caluza standard.

1. In service injury or sickness.

   a. The incident has to rise to a legal standard that something definitely occurred and is directly related to the claimed. An example would be ankle pain leading to bone spurs or lower back pain leading to disc herniation.

 

2. Current diagnosis of a injury or sickness by verifiable means. This is most important because the statement of injury and verification is unrefuttable. Furthermore it completes the second part of the Caluza standard. Current diagnosis of injury or sickness.

    a. X-Ray

    b. MRI

    c. CT Scan

   d.  Nerve conduction test

 

3. Continuity of treatment or Nexus stating said causation between incident and current injury/sickness. Many doctors are hesitant to become involved. They simply don't want to be bothered or don't properly understand what's being asked. You are asking for a medical opinion on inservice incident and current diagnosis. Only a 50% opinion, at least likely than not, the two are related and to state medically the causation between the two. The doctor should have all notes, military/civilian, at his side so he can review and make a honest medical assessement.

   a.  Continuity of treatment relates to the chronicity factor. Continuous treatment is symbolic of possible a chronic disorder which would make the issue service connected.

 

This my opinion and no opinion is 100 percent.

However, evidence is king..................

NEVER GIVE UP.............

I can assure you that I did all of this and then some.  My claim was idiot proof but my problem was the idiot king was the rater.

It is impossible to have a claim approved if the people do not even look at the evidence submitted. 

[GBArmy]

Sadly, way too many of us have been there, done that. And it just repeats. If the first gut misses key evidence, even if you point it out on appeal, the VA  just rubber stamps the original decision. Why? I don't know but it absolutely happens. Grrrr.

[Fat]

JKWilliams don't give up.

Sometimes people take the path of least resistance and don't apply 100% diligence in examining evidence.

Now you have to make a decision. Give it another try at the regional level or send it to the BVA.

If all the information is present, maybe another crack at the local level, but specifically spell out each piece of evidence as it relates to the Caluza standard.

1. All pieces of military paperwork related to claimed issue.  2. All current paperwork diagnosing current injury/sickness. Include treatment notes if applicable.  3. All correspondence from doctor stating rational of causation between military issue and current diagnosis.

If you got what you need, you will succeed .

NEVER GIVE UP...........

 

[JKWilliamsSr]

On 5/20/2020 at 1:46 PM, Fat said:

JKWilliams don't give up.

Sometimes people take the path of least resistance and don't apply 100% diligence in examining evidence.

Now you have to make a decision. Give it another try at the regional level or send it to the BVA.

If all the information is present, maybe another crack at the local level, but specifically spell out each piece of evidence as it relates to the Caluza standard.

1. All pieces of military paperwork related to claimed issue.  2. All current paperwork diagnosing current injury/sickness. Include treatment notes if applicable.  3. All correspondence from doctor stating rational of causation between military issue and current diagnosis.

If you got what you need, you will succeed .

NEVER GIVE UP...........

 

There is no chance in hell that I am giving up.  This is all about VA incompetence so I am going to hire an attorney and go directly to the BVA.

I have never had an adequate C&P exam done by a VA examiner.  They were all very short and IMO do not follow all the required rules.  You should see my DBQ's....they are a complete joke.   I have had two C&P exams done LHI(outside the VA) and while they go through all the steps in the exam I think they are just denial factories.  I have not seen those DBQ's because they are not uploaded like VA examiners but I am sure they are a joke.  Case in point it was an LHI examiner that said that a paraplegic can exercise and maintain a proper BMI so I should be able to as well.  This examiner also said my inability to exercise was a choice I made not because of my service connected disabilities. These statements were in my decision letter. That is a clear indicator that they ignored all my evidence which included my personal statements.  I discussed what exercises I tried and why I could not continue.  I mentioned the diets I tried that did not work.

My decision is to go the BVA route because the BVA often throws out the bullshit reasons the VA's examiners give.  I have seen many BVA decisions where the judge did not consider the VA examiners opinion because they did not take into account all the evidence as required.  This is why if you go to the BVA with your own medical opinion that provides a nexus you will win because for one a private IMO seems to be more thorough and veteran friendly (what VA examinations are supposed to be) and it dots all the "i's" and crosses all the "t's".  The VA examiner does nothing but cut and paste because they are lazy.

Edited May 22, 2020 by JKWilliamsSr