No Record of Injury?

[Buck52]

If a Veteran was Injured while in the military /war zone...(Vietnam)

AND he never sought medical care but some 40/45 years later  that old injury has caused bad arthritis in both knees, Dr's have mention what the veteran had mention about the old injury that yes it could be related to his now diagnose VA Arthritis 

However  since a Veteran needs medical records as evidence  and none are there because he never received medical attention when his injury occurred...just as thousands of veterans did back in Vietnam  they got injured but never went for medical treatment...we all just limp around for a few weeks until the injury got better and we just moved on.

o buddy statements are good    but been to long and most of the buddys have either passed away or can't find any of them that knew about the injury.

but to file a claim for this and  va Dr mention that it could possibly be the cause of the veterans aurthritis in his knees...this apparently is not good enough for the claim  to claim as evidence.

if the VA says no record of the injury then the claim is denied.

That just don't seem fair to me.

[Buck52]

My post was to hopefully help other veterans that come here but do not post for there own reasons...but the information on something like this may help  and  having not reported injury's while in the service happens a lot maybe not as much as it use to  because now days I think military personal of all branches are reporting their injury  which is a good thing to get them documented  opposed to us older veterans that did not report them.

I doubt I could get this service connectd  but thats ok I have enough conditions that I have claimed that got me up to the 100% and a couple SMC.

Right now I been looking at the criteria for A&A for my spouse & were getting medical records together and as soon as I have a permanent Address WE WILL FILE A CLAIM AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

I maybe asking some questions about this in the near future.

Thanks to everyone who responded Back.

[GBArmy]

Buck didn't you say you have copies of your TDY records? that is evidence that could support that your transfer resulted in a temp MOS change. If you had a buddy letter from anyone in the new unit, that certainly would work. But I know it isn't as easy as it is now to stay connected. And 50 years sure doesn't help finding an old buddy that you lost track to either. I's just another hint to the younger veterans it isn't too late to try and connect. You never know when it could come in handy for both of you.

[broncovet]

Nobody wants to hear about mistakes we made in the past, and I certainly have done more than my share.  The obvious answer, however, at your exit physical did you mention this?  

Of course, if you applied for benefits with in a year of exit from service you should be given a presumptive.  Yes, I know your buddies are not available for buddy letters.  Your CO is probably long gone.  

TIme deteriorates our claim's..the evidence gets weaker and weaker the longer we wait.  More records get destroyed.  WItnesses die or move.  Believe me, if I point the finger at you 4 of them come back to me.  I cant even get SC for knee arthritis "even tho" its documented I fractured my leg in service.  Stupidly, I did not apply for this years ago.  I have no one to blame but myself.  

Fortunately, for me, SC for arthritis wont matter ten cents for me.  I have 100 percent plus SMC S, and another 20 or 30 percent, even if it were both knees, probably would not change my pay one cent.  

Someday, however, it may make a difference..especially if I have "loss of use" of one or more of my legs due to arthritis, and/or the total knee replacement I got almost 2 years ago.  

I just pick the fights "that matter", and let the others go.  A and A for your spouse may be worth fighting for..it sounds like she needs it.  

 

[Buck52]

GB Actually I did submit a copy of my in -county travel orders an  TDY  Documents to the Board of Military Records Correction.

they came back and said that was not evidence to make the change over  they go by what is in your recent 201 file and go by that  if you had a mistake on it at that time you should speak up that was the time to have it change..as for as telling them about my experince in NAM and me getting hurt  NO I never actually thought about any of this, my knees were fine my hearing was ok  I had to reason to mention any of these conditions I have now I was physically fit as a fiddle back then

to be honest

I never ever thought aboutany of  this  at that time I was just glad to be home and out of the military,I had girls on my mind  not to take away from  that the nice Vietnamese women they were nice especially the part french Vietnamese  were nice and pretty and ''MAMA SONS''..BUT being gone so long and free as a jay bird so after I  checked out  went through my phyical if you can call it a phyiscal  only ask me questions they never laid a hand on me

all my documents sign  I was out of there and hit the town

**Please note I was not married while I was in the military that came about 1 year later.After I got out.

and still married to the same pretty woman I married some 47 years or so ago

[Lemuel]

Step one--Searching for people in your unit.  FOIA to the DOD with your unit name, Dates, and the purpose.  They can give you name, and rank of the individuals in your unit.  Also ask for the motor pool log to see if the vehicle require any kind of recorded care.

Step two--after identifying the medic, write a letter to him and ask the VA to foreword it.  Also to any others you remember having witnessed the incident. 

Step three--despite the outcome of step 2, apply for an extra-schedular decision based upon the "circumstances of war".  List your witnesses as best you remember them, ask for assistance, and hope for the best.  Be sure to have a statement from a physician saying that if what you describe happened it is more likely than not, or at least as likely as not, the old injury is the nexus of the knee arthritis.

Do it before the Administrative pressure at the top changes back to denial.  It is still in denial mode since Reagan's war on entitlements at the lower levels.  Don't expect much help from your local VARO unless pressure is put on from the Executive Director's office making the decision effectively though it goes back down to the DRO.  If you don't get the assist from the DRO needed complain in a letter to the Executive Director's office.

May not do any good.  I identified a Dental Tech who witnessed an MVA I had on Guam.  He received the letter but didn't respond.  All I needed from his was what he told me he saw, when I saw him a few weeks after the MVA.  I apparently had a short absence seizure and a pickup mysteriously appeared stopped directly in front of me.  His description to me was that he told his wife I was going to hit the vehicle in front of me.  I barely got my foot on the brake.  It was similar to many near MVA and some minor MVA that weren't reported.  But the most similar was the one in 1990 that I was confirmed to have a seizure based upon the objective evidence of EEG readings prior to the MVA stating "with or without seizures."  My DL was suspended for seizures by the VA physician who confirmed my seizure.

Even if I had that there is no guaranteeing I could get an attentive ear.  I'm still trying to SC complex partial seizures (temporal lobe epilepsy) that I am finally being treated for properly after all those years after the confirmation.  Fortunately, I may have a leg up.  I have a CUE on a Substantive Appeal never making it to the BVA on the claim with the Denver VARO denying its timely existence in 1998 though it was received in the record 6 months after the Statement of the Case.

One of the problems I am having is getting the Seizure Clinic records for the 1990-1991 mistreatment with Tegretol which shouldn't have been given to me on two counts.  The type of seizure diagnosed and my previous recorded sensitivity to amitriptyline.

So who said the world is fair? 

Sometimes we luck out as I did and blow by it all to a point.  I got TDIU back to September 16, 1985, the last day of my full time employment from the Executive Director, Compensation Services on an extraschedular claim that hadn't been processed that was dated in October of 1987.  It took two days from the DRO in DC's recommendation for Beth Murphy, the Executive Director, Compensation Services to sign off and recommend the date.  The Decision was made finale 3 months later by the DRO on the remanded "extra-schedular" claim on July 7, 2020.  I now have over $300,000 after paying my attorney over $80,000.  (and I now have an imitation Japanese hot spring spa in my basement which helps my arthritis)  Most of the three months was spent calculating and recalculating the amount due because of changes in the interim on my rating level, a recoupment of my spousal benefit because SSA transposed my wife's birth day from 12 to 21 so the VA and SSA records didn't match and then re-awarding the spousal benefits after someone told me what the problem was and we got the SSA records corrected.

I'm still in the mix of it.  Still want the SC of the seizures and an extra-schedular EED back to 1974 on the seizures which progressively got worse until adequately treated in 2015.  I want to see if I can press that the failure to provide 38 CFR 4.42 compliant injury exams is a clear and unmistakable error similar to overlooking a claim or Substantive Appeal.  This is something that has been willfully done by the VA since my first examinations.  I can't find any decisions or regulations on dating of seizures after they are confirmed.  If anyone has info on that, please post it here.

I have a wrist injury that involves the thumb metacarpal ankylosis to the wrist.  My claim has always been for residuals of the wrist injury.  The examiner only examines the articulation of the wrist with the finger metacarpals.  They refuse to measure the thumb use in an examination because it wasn't ordered.  The VA keeps examination orders close to the chest.  They do not appear in your file.  Only the scheduling.  38 CFR 4.42 is very clear that "all affected body systems" are to be reported in injury examinations.  I haven't found a challenge on the exams given in any case file.  38 CFR 4.42 has been clear on "injury examination" requirements without change since before 1974, probably back to at least 1947.  The requirement includes a complete neurology exam which is rarely done and wasn't on my injuries.  Both my TBI effective date and my wrist effective date and ratings are affected.

So if any of you know of cases related to these challenges, I would like to hear from you on this thread.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Lemuel
left out important part

[Lemuel]

Also, Buck, I can give you a statement confirming the often omission of entries in the health record by field corpsman and frequent failure to include a field medical tag in the record at the field medical unit if you are referred there for something relatively minor that the field medic couldn't handle.  Such as a prescription for a strong pain med and a replenishment of his pack.  I was one my last year in Vietnam.