I am over all rated at 90% of which 60% for compression fracture of lumbar spine alone and numerous others to include chemical burns at 30%, depression at 30% and 5 minor things at 10% each.
Three years ago I was making 80k with a MA degree in HR and my SPHR certification and then my neck started to hurt one day at work. I ended up having to have a neck fusion. I was out of work for a long time so I was let go when the company was sold. I started out at the bottom in federal civil service as a GS-5 in a developmental position to GS-11 because I wanted the job security for my family. Last year 2006 one of the fusion plates came loose from my first fusion and they had to redo the surgery this time from the back of my neck and placed two rods and a lot of screws and small plates in my neck. It didn't help and I was still in pain. Last year I was away from work for medical reasons for more than 500 hours and because of leave donations from co-workers my family and I barely made it through the year. I had my third fusion in March of 2007 and went back to my surgeon today for my follow-up. The pain has shown no improvement and I am still on 10 mg of methadone every 8 hours and 60 mg of Prozac along with various other medications.
For some reason the VA said my L2 spine compression was not related to anything that could have happened in my cervical so I am appealing my neck to become service connected.
Long story short version is I can’t perform my computer data input on the medications and if I don’t work I and my family of 5 don’t get paid.
If I were to file for TDIU the VA says it would take about 6 months to a year and during that time I could not work. Since there is no workers comp or disability except for $1,000 per month from the federal civil service. How can it be done? If my appeal every gets won I may or may not get to 100% which is important to me mostly because I have three teenagers still living at home and they would then get college assistance because I was at 100% TDIU (or is that only at 100% scheduler?) Which they can get tuution help only if I am at 100% or I can die from a service connected reason.
...................bottom line how can we live with out working money for 6 months to a year?
These decisions have made a big impact on how VA disability claims are handled, giving veterans more chances to get benefits and clearing up important issues.
Service Connection
Frost v. Shulkin (2017)
This case established that for secondary service connection claims, the primary service-connected disability does not need to be service-connected or diagnosed at the time the secondary condition is incurred 1. This allows veterans to potentially receive secondary service connection for conditions that developed before their primary condition was officially service-connected.
Saunders v. Wilkie (2018)
The Federal Circuit ruled that pain alone, without an accompanying diagnosed condition, can constitute a disability for VA compensation purposes if it results in functional impairment 1. This overturned previous precedent that required an underlying pathology for pain to be considered a disability.
Effective Dates
Martinez v. McDonough (2023)
This case dealt with the denial of an earlier effective date for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) 2. It addressed issues around the validity of appeal withdrawals and the consideration of cognitive impairment in such decisions.
I met with a VSO today at my VA Hospital who was very knowledgeable and very helpful. We decided I should submit a few new claims which we did. He told me that he didn't need copies of my military records that showed my sick call notations related to any of the claims. He said that the VA now has entire military medical record on file and would find the record(s) in their own file. It seemed odd to me as my service dates back to 1981 and spans 34 years through my retirement in 2015. It sure seemed to make more sense for me to give him copies of my military medical record pages that document the injuries as I'd already had them with me. He didn't want my copies. Anyone have any information on this. Much thanks in advance.
Caluza Triangle – Caluza vs Brown defined what is necessary for service connection. See COVA– CALUZA V. BROWN–TOTAL RECALL
This has to be MEDICALLY Documented in your records:
Current Diagnosis. (No diagnosis, no Service Connection.)
In-Service Event or Aggravation.
Nexus (link- cause and effect- connection) or Doctor’s Statement close to: “The Veteran’s (current diagnosis) is at least as likely due to x Event in military service”
VA has gotten away with (mis) interpreting their ambigious, , vague regulations, then enforcing them willy nilly never in Veterans favor.
They justify all this to congress by calling themselves a "pro claimant Veteran friendly organization" who grants the benefit of the doubt to Veterans.
This is not true,
Proof:
About 80-90 percent of Veterans are initially denied by VA, pushing us into a massive backlog of appeals, or worse, sending impoverished Veterans "to the homeless streets" because when they cant work, they can not keep their home. I was one of those Veterans who they denied for a bogus reason: "Its been too long since military service". This is bogus because its not one of the criteria for service connection, but simply made up by VA. And, I was a homeless Vet, albeit a short time, mostly due to the kindness of strangers and friends.
Hadit would not be necessary if, indeed, VA gave Veterans the benefit of the doubt, and processed our claims efficiently and paid us promptly. The VA is broken.
A huge percentage (nearly 100 percent) of Veterans who do get 100 percent, do so only after lengthy appeals. I have answered questions for thousands of Veterans, and can only name ONE person who got their benefits correct on the first Regional Office decision. All of the rest of us pretty much had lengthy frustrating appeals, mostly having to appeal multiple multiple times like I did.
I wish I know how VA gets away with lying to congress about how "VA is a claimant friendly system, where the Veteran is given the benefit of the doubt". Then how come so many Veterans are homeless, and how come 22 Veterans take their life each day? Va likes to blame the Veterans, not their system.
Question
SABruce1
I am over all rated at 90% of which 60% for compression fracture of lumbar spine alone and numerous others to include chemical burns at 30%, depression at 30% and 5 minor things at 10% each.
Three years ago I was making 80k with a MA degree in HR and my SPHR certification and then my neck started to hurt one day at work. I ended up having to have a neck fusion. I was out of work for a long time so I was let go when the company was sold. I started out at the bottom in federal civil service as a GS-5 in a developmental position to GS-11 because I wanted the job security for my family. Last year 2006 one of the fusion plates came loose from my first fusion and they had to redo the surgery this time from the back of my neck and placed two rods and a lot of screws and small plates in my neck. It didn't help and I was still in pain. Last year I was away from work for medical reasons for more than 500 hours and because of leave donations from co-workers my family and I barely made it through the year. I had my third fusion in March of 2007 and went back to my surgeon today for my follow-up. The pain has shown no improvement and I am still on 10 mg of methadone every 8 hours and 60 mg of Prozac along with various other medications.
For some reason the VA said my L2 spine compression was not related to anything that could have happened in my cervical so I am appealing my neck to become service connected.
Long story short version is I can’t perform my computer data input on the medications and if I don’t work I and my family of 5 don’t get paid.
If I were to file for TDIU the VA says it would take about 6 months to a year and during that time I could not work. Since there is no workers comp or disability except for $1,000 per month from the federal civil service. How can it be done? If my appeal every gets won I may or may not get to 100% which is important to me mostly because I have three teenagers still living at home and they would then get college assistance because I was at 100% TDIU (or is that only at 100% scheduler?) Which they can get tuution help only if I am at 100% or I can die from a service connected reason.
...................bottom line how can we live with out working money for 6 months to a year?
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