Should I refuse a c and p exam?

[broncovet]

No.  You should attend the exam, when possible.  If you cant attend the exam, you should promptly notify VA, and comply with the regulations, to show "good cause" WHY NOT.   This is not open for debate, advising a Veteran to non comply with regulations is not in the Veterans best interests.  

Quote

§ 3.655 Failure to report for Department of Veterans Affairs examination.

(a) General. When entitlement or continued entitlement to a benefit cannot be established or confirmed without a current VA examination or reexamination and a claimant, without good cause, fails to report for such examination, or reexamination, action shall be taken in accordance with paragraph (b) or (c) of this section as appropriate. Examples of good cause include, but are not limited to, the illness or hospitalization of the claimant, death of an immediate family member, etc. For purposes of this section, the terms examination and reexamination include periods of hospital observation when required by VA.

(b) Original or supplemental claim, or claim for increase. When a claimant fails to report for an examination scheduled in conjunction with an original compensation claim, the claim shall be rated based on the evidence of record. When the examination was scheduled in conjunction with any other original claim, a supplemental claim for a benefit which was previously disallowed, or a claim for increase, the claim shall be denied.

(c) Running award.

(1) When a claimant fails to report for a reexamination and the issue is continuing entitlement, VA shall issue a pretermination notice advising the payee that payment for the disability or disabilities for which the reexamination was scheduled will be discontinued or, if a minimum evaluation is established in part 4 of this title or there is an evaluation protected under § 3.951(b) of this part, reduced to the lower evaluation. Such notice shall also include the prospective date of discontinuance or reduction, the reason therefor and a statement of the claimant's procedural and appellate rights. The claimant shall be allowed 60 days to indicate his or her willingness to report for a reexamination or to present evidence that payment for the disability or disabilities for which the reexamination was scheduled should not be discontinued or reduced.

(2) If there is no response within 60 days, or if the evidence submitted does not establish continued entitlement, payment for such disability or disabilities shall be discontinued or reduced as of the date indicated in the pretermination notice or the date of last payment, whichever is later.

(3) If notice is received that the claimant is willing to report for a reexamination before payment has been discontinued or reduced, action to adjust payment shall be deferred. The reexamination shall be rescheduled and the claimant notified that failure to report for the rescheduled examination shall be cause for immediate discontinuance or reduction of payment. When a claimant fails to report for such rescheduled examination, payment shall be reduced or discontinued as of the date of last payment and shall not be further adjusted until a VA examination has been conducted and the report reviewed.

(4) If within 30 days of a pretermination notice issued under paragraph (c)(1) of this section the claimant requests a hearing, action to adjust payment shall be deferred as set forth in § 3.105(i)(1) of this part. If a hearing is requested more than 30 days after such pretermination notice but before the proposed date of discontinuance or reduction, a hearing shall be scheduled, but payment shall nevertheless be discontinued or reduced as of the date proposed in the pretermination notice or date of last payment, whichever is later, unless information is presented which warrants a different determination. When the claimant has also expressed willingness to report for an examination, however, the provisions of paragraph (c)(3) of this section shall apply.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501)

Please do not advise Veterans to violate the law to obtain, or keep VA benefits.  It is hadit's policy to not allow Veterans to advise others to willfully violate regulations.  

[Tbird]

59 minutes ago, broncovet said:

No.  You should attend the exam, when possible.  If you cant attend the exam, you should promptly notify VA, and comply with the regulations, to show "good cause" WHY NOT.   This is not open for debate, advising a Veteran to non comply with regulations is not in the Veterans best interests.  

Please do not advise Veterans to violate the law to obtain, or keep VA benefits.  It is hadit's policy to not allow Veterans to advise others to willfully violate regulations.  

Do not advise veterans to refuse compensation and pension exams. See 38CFR3.655 38 CFR is the law.

38 CFR 3.655 (up to date as of 9-21-2022).pdf

[pacmanx1]

NEWS FLASH

This is my experience and what happened to me and how I handled it. I am on the record for stating that a veteran should never refuse to go to an exam and my opinion is not changing but a veteran can inquire and or challenge an exam.

I have been posting that I filed two separate claims for EEDs, and the VA sent me to two separate LHI exams and the examiners wrote very favorable medical opinions. I really didn’t even remember this until this very morning, but I found out that during this time I was also scheduled an exam for my already service-connected mental health disorder. When I found out that I was scheduled for this third exam I contacted the LHI scheduling office and the VA to inquire why was this exam scheduled, I found out that certain exams may trigger a secondary mental health exam. I did not refuse to go to the exam I just called to find out who and why the exam was scheduled.

I told the LHI scheduling office and the VA that I did not file for an increase for my mental health disorder and that my claims for EEDs could possibly affect my combined rating due to the medical evidence is dated prior to my 100% scheduler P & T rating but since my mental health rating was already static for well over a decade and a half that it would not affect my combined rating in any way, shape or form.

I found out that one of the examiners scheduled me a mental health examination due to my service-connected disability because they are/were so close in proximity. The VA finally informed me that they did not order the mental health exam and the LHI scheduling office told me that one of the examiners did, but the mental health exam was cancelled, and I did not have to report to it. So, it could be that the exam could have been scheduled by either the VA or the contracting examination office.

So, I found out that some physical examinations could trigger a mental health examination, so it is possible that the VA or the contracting scheduling office is trying to properly evaluate the veteran's ratings. 

Edited September 23, 2022 by pacmanx1

[blahsaysme2u]

22 minutes ago, pacmanx1 said:

This is my experience and what happened to me and how I handled it. I am on the record for stating that a veteran should never refuse to go to an exam and my opinion is not changing but a veteran can inquiry and or challenge an exam.

same! and i love hearing your story and explanation...much better than my poor excuse of wording lol thanks to everyone here for putting this into perspective

[Mr cue]

Ok this is my last time even addressing this an veterans can choose to do what they feel is best for them.

ok.you guys are posting about the VA ordering exams to reexamine a condition.

We all understand that VA award that isn't pt they reexamine.

An you can't refuse that exam.

I a veteran feel that the VA is ordering exams over and over you can refuse anymore exams.

If the VA order exam for conditions you didn't claim. You can refuse the exam or cancel it.

If you apply for a condition or smc benefits and the VA try to open all your disability up for exams.

You can refuse or make a complaint to the white house hotline. An upload a statement.

My post is based on experience.

My post is based on a cavc remand I just received because they denied because I refuse the exam.

An didn't address any of my favorable evidence.

So to keep tell veterans they can do anything if the VA does something wrong.

Is a disservice to me.

I think most of us is here on hadit because the VA didn't follow the law.

This has got so bad now ppl are telling veterans.

The private contractor order the exams. Lol.

So tell a veteran a private contractor can just open all there disability to review.

Is that not a disservice.

The VA has to order exams the private contractor is to complete what they order.  Smh.

But this is my last post on these exams. 

Because you all can see what is going on.

Ever week there is a veteran post about unnecessary exams. 

An this is my opinion based off experience.

Not something a lawyer published on there web site 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr cue]

2 hours ago, broncovet said:

Please do not advise Veterans to violate the law to obtain, or keep VA benefits.  It is hadit's policy to not allow Veterans to advise others to willfully violate regulations

We're have I ever told a veteran to violate the law. Lol. Smh.

Yea I think it's really time for me to give hadit a break. Things are alot different because this is crazy 

Man listen I fought the VA for Years for my benefits.

I understand the law. An have won many case pro SE  bva cavc because I understand the law.

An don't allow the VA to violate the law.

An like I said I post from experience.

 

 

 

 

 

[broncovet]

On more than one occassion, hadit members have missed exams, often because they were not informed of the c and p exam.  

Of course, its difficult to attend an exam, you did not know about until it was over!  

These Veterans had varying degrees of difficulty for missing these exams.  

Many reported how difficult it was to overcome a denial based on failure to report for an exam.  If you cant attend the exam, contact va right away, dont wait until they reduce your benefits 2 years later.  

Veterans need to keep VA informed of their address changes.  

The VA has a "presumption of regularity".  This means if VA sends you a notice of an exam to your "last known address" on file, its presumed you received the notice.  

Not everyone reads every piece of mail they receive.  Dont make that mistake with VA, it could be a notice of an impending c and p exam.