100% Depression

[sbrewer]

My husband is currently 50% sc for depression, but put in for an increase. He is in process of being unemployed from a federal job because of his depression. At his "fit for duty" exam, the pysh. dr. wrote that he was "not fit because of his depression". My question is...would this be automatically 100% sc.

Thanks

sbrewer

[Testvet]

I think after eading all of this she is asking about the "fitness to work exam" ordered by places like the Post Office they sent me on a few the PO never got the doctor statements they wanted or needed to get rid of me, if the doctor doing the fitness for duty exam wrote he is unfir mentally to keep his job and they let him go, because of it, then he needs to apply for medical retirement from the agency and then file the retirement paperwork due to the medical paperwork to the VARO and ask for a new C&P exam and let the system work

[Pete53]

I think that a discussion is invaluable it really accomplishes a couple of things. It helps the claimant get the ammo they need to have a successful claim and it also points a Veteran who really does not have a proper claim to either find the info they need or maybe just let it go.

Alex used to say that SO's should tell Veterans when they don't have a claim.

Lets face it the VARO could be a lot more helpful than it is to help Veterans win their claims.

[Berta]

Good point Pete- I have seen vets claim something that has very little chance of success yet they have other disabilties not claimed- that can be successful.

Also a vet should use every possible avenue of potential service connection to succeed.

Even more than one reason for SC.

I read a widows claim this morning- she had presented three separate reasons to VA to award a SC death DIC benefit.

Unfortunately- she failed to succeed on any of these scenarios. The time she had spent was obvious and she did a lot of leg work.

However the one thing that was missing was a strong IMO from a private doctor that possibly could have helped.Possibly- I saw no medical nexus at all.

And of course the VA did not consider her medical opinions as "competent" as she is layperson.

Then again many claims have suggested many potential reasons for SC and if the VA picks and accepts only one-they really only need one medical reason to award on.

Also a claimant's focus is sometimes all wrong-

had a vet with colon disability he tried to connect to an inservice back injury-which he could not prove.

His colon disability however had potential strong linkage to chemicals and asbestos he was exposed to in service.

When I read long ago how a widow tied in her husband's SC hearing loss to his death due to heart disease (by medical evidence) and the CAVC awarded DIC- I realised that nothing is impossible with VA but has to be presented well.

Most vet reps and SOs would have probably told her she had no basis for a DIC claim.And based on his SC they probably would have meant well as the connection is not obvious.

But she did.

Edited February 15, 2007 by Berta

[john999]

Something funny about federal fitness for duty exams: If you have a work related injury they will never send you for a fitness for duty because the doctor might say you were unfit and then the workers compensation system would have to pay and ultimately the federal agencey. You can put your disability retirement papers in before you quit work. The disability retirement is strictly medical. If you are working light duty you are usually considered unable to work your regular job and this is enough for disability retirement but it is based on the medical facts. One thing is that no one can really live on disability retirement. It is just not enough money by itself without VA and SSDI maybe. You want to get your ducks in a row before you pull the pin.

[sbrewer]

Thanks everyone for the response.

He is scheduled for a C&P on the 24th. I guess this is for the increase for the mental. They also sent a paper about IU for him to fill out. He is not working his federal job now, but is considered this week as a vocation week. This was all the time he had left and actually a -11.5 hours of sick time. He has already talked to SS as well and needs to finish filling out the paper work for the IU. His last day at his job was the 9th. They do not have light duty for him.

Thanks,

sbrewer