ptsd Opinions Needed From

[Berta]

This AM the post by Tim re PTSD and heart disease caused me to think abut one of my claims that I seem to forget.

Does this make sense-

Rod's Sec 1151 claimed PTSD malpractce as well as possibly heart disease and strokes-malpracticed against him that could"eventually cause my death." His words-

awarded posthumously by VA- by their statement that " Multiple Deviations in a usual standard of care had occurred and all of these deviations hastened the veteran's death." Sec 1151 award letter.

He claimed the PTSD was malpracticed for many reasons- substantial ones with merit and also said to me before he died that, in essense-His SC PTSD had put him into harm's way as he was forced to go to VA for med care as there are no PTSD shrinks around anywhere else.

He died never knowing his claim was awarded.

I have a current claim in addition to AO death claim due to PTSD a service connected disability as contributing to his death.

I also have a claim suggesting the the PTSD compenent of his initial Sec 1151 claim

was an open issue, never resolved by VA.

They sent me a letter on this stating that the PTSD was in fact one compenent of ALL deviations,in the Sec 1151 award.Thus this PTSD 1151 issue had been resolved (By their very first admission in a decade hat PTSD was part of the Section 1151 award.

In addition to other evidence to support this specific claim

(although my main focus has been on the AO death claim)

the VA re-opened an old claim via a Motion at the BVA on this same issue-(I think)

My question is-

the VA is saying that a SC condition (Rods PTSD) did contribute to his Sec 1151 death.

It certainly caused his HBP to raise. His HBP -undertreated medically -was also a significant factor under FTCA report -in his death-

Why would a direct service connected disability -with this medical contribution -not provide for a Direct SC death?

As I understand the regs and the NVLSP explanation of them- a SC condition must materially or substantially contribute to death-and that it aided or lent assistance to the production of death.

In Rod's case he got the employee shrink for 5 years- no PTSD help there- and no medications for all those years.

It took congressional intervention to get him to the real PTSD shrink- a real psychiatrist-

He was denied access to the combat group because he was only 30% yet SSA award showed he was 100% 3 years before he died.

His other VA employee shrink said "My God I had no idea he was that sick from PTSD"after 5 years of inadequate and unmedicated care. when I showed him the 100% award letter.

The fact that the VA admitted in Jan 2006 that the PTSD component had contributed to his 1151 death-

as a direct SC disability-would this not have credence that his death should have been directly service connected?

I am still wondering about that Motion they filed at the BVA and just dont have the time to check it out-

The VA treated Rod as employee not a disabled veteran-

this is one reason he was given sudafed for a heart attack and not admitted to the VAMC.

M21-1 doctors directives at that time stated (and I used this in my FTCA claim) to get the employee back to work ASAP-

Had his care that day been as treatment of a SC vet- things might have been different.

Any thoughts?

My AO claim has much more evidence than this one-

I filed this because I cannot forget some of Rods points-PTSD had in fact put him into harm's way.

If this all doesn't make sense please let me know.

I seem to have more problems in my claims then anyone elses- they are still very emotional to me.

It appears VA is working on this claim too.

Edited February 19, 2007 by Berta

[Berta]

Terry- these regs were meant for us as well as the VA-

Actually I love them all and think they are 99 % perfect-

My Bonny V Principi claim (that is what VA calls it) challenges a reg-

this is the one they wont make a decision on- it has been over 4 years so when the stuff gets out of the rating board I will file a Writ Extraordinare-

any opinions-

Bonny V Principi dictated that ALL accrued benefits go to surviving spouse.The death of the vet has to have occurred after Dec 16th,2003. (I filed this claim even prior to the published regs but it doesnt matter)

When Rod died the reg said only one year accrued to surviving spouse.

The VA farted around for years with the accrued claim-if you pardon that expression-and then had to award 2 years to me accrued because the regs changed while the claim was in progress.

My claim under Bonny states-

Since the VA itself "hastened" the veteran's death due to "undefensible" inappropriate medical care (FTCA settlement /Sec 1151 award letter), the veteran could not hang on until Dec 16, 2003, (the limiting date of the regs)DUE TO VA health care. Therefore the VA owes me exactly one additional year of accrued (based on the veteran's VA posthumous award letter for 3 years of 100% P % T SC decision).

I told them how much to send me -deducting what the vet got in his lifetime.

This is a legal issue, a challenge to these regs-they always seem to forget provisions for Sec 1151 widows.The Bonny regs did not, however, specifically limit our right to challenge Bonny V Principi-thus I challenged the regs.

Makes sense to me- does it make sense to you?

I have one more step to take to prove ,in the mandamus writ-to the court that I have done all I could, and have exhausted all administrative proceedings in order to get a decision- promised twice by he VSM but which never has occurred.In four years.

I even wrote to the GC but they could not accept jurisdiction.

This evidence will be sumbitted with the Writ.