Is The Va There To Help Vets With Their Claims?

[Pete53]

I have read many hundreds or maybe thousands of BVA Claims and have yet to see where a VA Attorney was helpful to a Veteran. I wonder why this is. Isn't the purpose of the VA to help Veterans not be adversarial and yet that is the way it is.

Is there anyone on Hadit who believes that the VA tried to help them with their claim?

It seems to me that as we try to get the wounded Veteran back up and functioning the VA is missing an opportunity to lead rather than follow. For most of these Veterans it is not rocket science that shows they are needing help and plenty of it.

The VA should appoint free legal representation to any Veteran who has to stand before the BVA of CVA in my opinion.

[Hoppy]

John,

I re-read your post and you did mention a back injury. Has there been a recent increase in the pain. If yes, the VA is going by the medical diagnoses as they exist and when the say no change they are refering to the diagnoses and test results of record, not a pain issue. Pain can increase dramatically from a back injury and last for extended periods of time. At one time I told my primary doctor that my goal every day of my life was to spend 16 hours a day in the prone position. This is the only way I could control the pain. The doctors know that the pain can get out of control they also know that it can go away. In my case the elevated levels of pain causing me to be prone 16 hours a day lasted a year and a half. Then it went away and I returned to the levels of functioning prior to the increased pain levels. I did not even go fishing for a two years. Another time I was flat on my back for six months. Again the pain went away. The inceases in pain occurred many years after the original injury. Today, I fish and play golf. The high pain levels are a distant memory.

Everybody in the business of treating and adjudicating disability claims knows that back problems come and go. Social Security has a provision that the disability must be expected to last at least one year. Social Security is not like the VA. They have no duty to assist. You will need an attorney for Social Security. Most SS attirneys do not get involved until you are initially denied by the the SS administration.

When I went through Social Security in 1993 they asked plenty of questions about daily functioning. However, according to my SS attorney you absolutely have to have a diagnosis of disc herniation confirmed by and MRI. Additionally, you have to have an EMG that is abnormal for nerve function in one of your arms or legs. You need to participate in rehabilitation without improvement for two months. Most people can not afford all the MRI,s and treatment. My attorney sought referrals from vet organizations because she knew that the vets could get the tests from the VA. There could be other diagnoses that come into play that I am not familiar with. You need to get an SSI attorney. I have herniated C4/C5 & C6/C7 and L5/S1. I have had severe pain in my head, neck arms, shoulders hands, hips and legs. I used to take Qualudes becuase they would make me unable not only to feel pain, I could barely feel my arms and legs. I did win the SS claim for my back. However, my angioedema disrupted my ability to work throughout my adult life. I earned less than $70,000.00 in SS wages my entire life. All I got was SSI (Supplemental Security Income). They took that away when I got SC'd for angioedema.

As far as the VA goes you really need to get a good grip on the rating schedule. Get all the tests and diagnoses in order and match them up to the schedule. The VA is also diagnosis and test driven. Believe it or not they are of the opinion that your pain could go away tomorrow. Every doctor who has treated me was optimistic the high levels of pain would go away and they were right. Now that I am a golfer I thank God for every day he grants me to perfect my game.

Edited May 6, 2007 by Hoppy

[John Purser]

Hoppy,

Thanks for the info. Yes, that sounds a little like my back. But I hurt it in a jump accident 20 years ago and it hasn't stopped hurting since then. Late 2005 the pain (which had been increasing slowly over the decades) increased very sharply. 16 hours a day horizontal? That would be an unusually good day for me. I can take a shower, then I need to lay down for an hour or so. I can usually get breakfast made, then have to lay down. I'm barely functional as a human being at this point. The increase in pain was much sharper these last two years but it's been increasing for 20 years at a slower rate. I've had civilian tests and the doc said that my lower spine had collapsed. The rest of my spine, hips, etc. were in good shape. It was just where the army operated I had the problem and there was nothing he could do about that.

I'm in the process of filing for SS. I'll take your advice on the tests and let you know how it comes out.

Thanks.

John

[Vike17]

Believe it or not, the VA does go to great lengths to "assist" the veteran in their claim(s). Keep in mind they are to "assist" with the claim, not do everything for the claimant. There's a big difference. This is why it is called an non-adversarial system. If the system was advisarial, then the VA would not be "assisting" the veteran to get any needed evidence to support their claim, they would actually try to disprove the claim form the get go without seeking any evidence on the claimants behalf.

I don't know of any other disability compensation program that will go to the lengths the VA does to help a claimant prove their claim(s). Sometimes even the lengths the VA does go throught try and help the veteran actually leads to the long wait times and delys it takes the VA to process a claim. Even before the VCAA of 2000, the VA still "assisted' the claimant, the only thing was the claimant had to submit a "well-grounded" claim before the VA would help them obtain any other needed evidence to support the claim.

The system may seem adversarial to many veteran simply because they must be able to prove their contentions, and some times this is just a hard thing to do considering some of the claims being presented. The VA cannot not simply operate on the basis that anything the veteran says should be enough as proof.

Vike 17

[Josephine]

Vike17,

I am happy to see your name back on the board.

Josephine

Edited May 6, 2007 by Josephine

[allan]

>If the system was advisarial, then the VA would not be "assisting" the veteran to get any needed evidence to support their claim, they would actually try to disprove the claim form the get go without seeking any evidence on the claimants behalf.

That is an excellent discription of "duty to assist" at the VARO level. It's an absolute shame, but vets should expect it. If a vet is lucky enough to actually recieve an, "honest" & "complete" evaluation of all the evidence, without it being run through a shredder first, they can expect favorable evidence to be misqoated, mispelled & misinterpreted into some kind of BS that doesn't even resemble the truth.

Obstruction of justice is a crime.

[allan]

Forgot to add, that it is good to see you post again Vike.

Welcome home!

Allan