Courts View On Gaf

[carlie]

A global assessment of functioning score represents "the

clinician's judgment of the individual's overall level of functioning" and

is "useful in planning treatment and measuring its impact[] and in

predicting outcome." Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders 30 (4th. ed. 1994) [hereinafter DSM-IV]; see Richard v. Brown,

9 Vet.App. 266, 267 (1996).

carlie

Edited March 12, 2007 by carlie

[betrayed]

Now, I had to file a complaint with the VAOIG to get that corrected. Gezzzz, what a mess this is.

and have u got the results of that complaint? I filled a complaint withthe VAOIG for malpractice, they accepted it and assigned a number to it. Then they sent me a letter and told me the investigation was completed and if I wanted to I could request under FOIA a copy of the investigation, so I did. 30 days later I got it in the mail, Guess what, the VAOIG did not investigate it they let the VAMC investigate it :( and of course the VAMC found their NP did nothing wrong so Army dont expect to much from the VAOIG, just more of the same VA BS.

[Pete53]

A GAF is not the end all to be all. Its not in the least bit objective but a subjective guess of where an observer thinks the patient is at the particular time that they see the patient. A low GAF does not insure a good rating nor does a high one say no to a rating. Its part of a picture and in my opinion much over used.

Loving your wife is a good thing and an anchor. If you has told the Doc that you did not love your wife he or she would probably have asked more questions.

In 1991 the VA nor anyone else gave a rat's ass about GAF's.

So back to what the main issue. Its best to be honest about how you are feeling instead of being defensive and saying I feel fine when you really feel like a big lump of crap.

[huskerfanfl]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the input. No, the VAOIG did nothing but said, "the issue needs to settled locally, with the local VA center". WRONG ANSWER. Thus, I filed a congressional investigation with my US Senator... that happens to be on the VA Committee. This problem is NOT going away.... I will see to it... what ever it takes.

Pete, you know.... that the VA uses GAF scores to deny and/or low-ball claims... its a matter of FACT. Lets, just agree to disagree, but thanks for the reply. Some VAROs use GAF scores differently, some correct, some as a means to degrade a rating, or deny... NO consistency. BUT, I do believe that, even in treatment, VA Psychiatrist try their best to degrade a GAF score. Its a pathetic situation... PERIOD.

I appreciate your input. THANKS.

Army,

I have to agree with you. I saw the GAF score that was given to me and it does not match up with what should have been assigned based on my situation. In fact, it was 15-20 points high

[Jay Johnson]

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I think the VA should weigh GAFs FAR more heavily than they do. As it stands now, they ignore a GAF when it's in the veteran's favor and they use ONLY the GAF when it's high and goes against the veteran. In my wife's case, she had an admitting GAF of 10 and a current GAF of 15, yet they ignored those in favor of the discharge GAF (42) and tried to rate her at 70%.

Now, if the VA applied their own laws (which they never do) they should be taking the LOWEST GAF, then assessing how often that low-point occurs. With this, they make a rating for compensation.

GAF *IS* an overall disability picture and does indicate the level of one's social and occupational impairment and, in most cases I've seen, most veterans have GAFs that would warrant at least 70% + IU (under a 50 GAF is "serious" occupational impairment). Anything 30 or less should automatically fall into TDIU and anything under 30 should automatically warrant a 100% rating based on GAF criteria.

The problem is that the VA does not want their hands tied, so they came up with this god-awful system that gives raters complete discretion when rating mental disorders and they use laws that are vague, at best, that the raters can easily ignore. Forcing them to use those GAFs would take the guess work out of the rating's process.

The only downside to a GAF is that NO doctor can properly assess one's overall disability picture in a single C&P exam, so those GAFs are meaningless. Also, the VA could simply instruct their psychs to give higher GAFs to keep claims down. However, both of those issues could easily be circumvented if vets would just quit using VA mental health care services and, instead, hire a private doctor. Of course, I strongly recommend using a private doc for mental health regardless of GAF issues.....

[john999]

If the VA wants to low ball you on your claim they will find a way. They don't need a GAF to screw you. They are experts at it and have been for years.

[Testvet]

In May 2005 I had a doctors statement that my GAF was 30 and due to the symptoms and severity and the length of time I have lived with PTSD symptoms he was certain that I would never be employable again and he considered me permanently and totally disabled just by PTSD let alone any other medical conditions I was dealing with.

They still awarded a 50% I appealed it and then they awarded the 100% P&T the rest of my claim is a mess lol and still on appeal I filed in Oct 2002