Refusing C and P exams is not recommended

[broncovet]

Advising Veterans to refuse a c and p exam "is not" endorsed by hadit. 

Instead, it is this moderator's opinion that Veterans should do their best to attend C and P exams, unless there is a compelling reason, such as being in the hospital, or the death of a family member.   

If a C and P exam is impossible/impractical to attend, the Veteran should contact the VA to reschedule the exam for a more opportune time/date, at his/her earliest convenience

Make no mistake:  refusing an exam is grounds for a denial, and this could be difficult, time consuming and costly to overcome.  

38 CFR 3.655 is important enough to warrant a reminder:

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.

...this regulation goes on to note this applies to both a NEW claim, and/or an existing claim (possible reduction).  

If you refuse a c and p exam, you just gave VA an "iron clad" denial reason, that will be difficult, costly, and time consuming to over come, that is, if you can overcome the denial at all.  

Source:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/38/3.655

 

Hadit is not responsible for the content or opinions of its posters.   Hadit's policy prohibits members from advising Veterans to violate regulations or applicable laws.  

 

[Tbird]

Agreed on all points.

[broncovet]

I will add that there have been instances brought to my attention, where the VEteran was "not informed" of the c and p exam.  

This can happen for several reasons, one of which is the Veteran fails to update VA on changes of address, or phone numbers.  If you are seeking VA benefits, and move or change your phone, you should promptly change your address of record to VA, as well as your phone and or email.  

Again, if you fail to promptly update VA on a change of address, VA can simply send notices to your "last address on file", and you will again face a difficult process to address a failure to attend an exam.  

Of course, sometimes VA fails to send notice of the exam, or sends it to an address which has been changed.  If this happens, you should also contact VA to get the missed exam rescheduled.  

This can be tough, if you did not know you were scheduled for an exam.  

I check my exams about once a month.  The VA does not even like it at all if we miss regular doctor appointments without notifiying VA.  

This means your doctors time was wasted, when it could have been used to help another Veteran.  Do your fellow Veterans a favor, and promptly notify VA if you can not attend any exam, so that a fellow Veteran can be treated in your stead.  

[Lemuel]

12 minutes ago, broncovet said:

I will add that there have been instances brought to my attention, where the VEteran was "not informed" of the c and p exam.  

This can happen for several reasons, one of which is the Veteran fails to update VA on changes of address, or phone numbers.  If you are seeking VA benefits, and move or change your phone, you should promptly change your address of record to VA, as well as your phone and or email.  

Again, if you fail to promptly update VA on a change of address, VA can simply send notices to your "last address on file", and you will again face a difficult process to address a failure to attend an exam.  

Of course, sometimes VA fails to send notice of the exam, or sends it to an address which has been changed.  If this happens, you should also contact VA to get the missed exam rescheduled.  

This can be tough, if you did not know you were scheduled for an exam.  

I check my exams about once a month.  The VA does not even like it at all if we miss regular doctor appointments without notifiying VA.  

This means your doctors time was wasted, when it could have been used to help another Veteran.  Do your fellow Veterans a favor, and promptly notify VA if you can not attend any exam, so that a fellow Veteran can be treated in your stead.  

That works now but did not when we were using hard copy.  I am insisting that due to whistle blower retaliation during that time, that the BVA look at the date of my address change, which I always made via the 800 827 1000 number.  The VARO often copied addresses from two years prior so they would not be forwarded and, in one case, I had changed addresses twice in between.

I also had the VARO in Cheyenne schedule hearings specifically only during periods when I was in Japan with my wife and had previously notified them by letter and the letters are date stamped as being received more than 10 days prior to the scheduling of the hearing.  There is an interoffice memo in my record showing they did that three times before issuing a decision to deny.

It is before the BVA now on 38 CFR 1000, the denial of a hearing.

[Vync]

@broncovetDon't you love how the VA defines "good cause" with extremes such as being hospitalized or death of an immediate family member? I guess "I never received the letter notifying me of the exam" is not a viable example...

A while back, the VAMC put up posters on easels to educate vets about the missed appointment percentages. Now I get at least three text messages, two emails, a letter or two in the mail, one or more robocalls, and sometimes even a warm body calling to remind me of every upcoming appointment. If the VAMC can put forth that much effort to help ensure a veteran is aware of an upcoming appointment, I honestly cannot see why the VBA cannot do the same for C&P appointments...

I actually missed one C&P exam, but it was due to VA error. I was at the VAMC finishing an appointment. When I went to check out, the clerk printed a list of my upcoming appointments said I better hurry to my next appointment. I was like, what appointment? It was a C&P I was waiting on. Due to slow mobility and the typical faulty elevators at the VAMC, it took a bit to get to the C&P clinic, I arrived 20 minutes late. I explained I just found out about it. Their clerk said they mailed me a letter, but was happy to reschedule. I got home and checked the mailbox to find the letter which was postmarked the day prior...  

 

[broncovet]

Lemeul:

   Yes, if you review CAVC cases, you can find at least one instance where VA modified the Veterans records in order to deny him.  And, of course, then there is shreddergate, and there is not real evidence this has actually been stopped (shredding or deleting Veterans key evidence) even after the "October 2008" incident, when VAOIG found Veterans evidence in appropriately in the shred bins based on inspections of MULTIPLE VARO's.  

   In 2008, I filed at VA a "request for special evidence handling" due to shredding.  I kept a copy and sent it certified.  

    Low and behold, my request for "special handling due to shredding", mysteriously disappeared out of my file AFTER VA promised to "put controls in place so that shredding could not happen in the future". 

    In criminal law, the defendandant knows better than to let the prosecution "possess the only copy" of applicable documentation. 

But this is exactly what we generally do.  Instead, you should keep a seperate copy (or better yet, the original) of documents you send VA. 

    Berta explained it as a "MF" (Mysterious force) which somehow destroys or deletes Veterans favorable evidence.   

[broncovet]

Vync:

    Yes, many of our regulations are likely "deliberatley vague" or even in conflict with each other, and open to VA's "own interpretations" based on individual cases, which may or may not conflict with each other.