Posted on Aug 10, 2018
How do I handle an issue with the VA Appeals process and unscrupulous people involved?
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Appeal wrongly closed due to clerical error and the VA Hotline admitted I was right and forwarded my appeal for reinstatement several times already. My attorney has also had a few hands in it. Since 5 months was too long, I took it to the VA Regional Center (Houston) to show them the issue and hopefully (extremely unlikely) speed up the process. I was sent to a counselor who had his CPO and retired CPO advertisements everywhere. Turned out to be another long line of Corpsman, who have repeatedly fumbled all grasp of the obvious when dealing with my medical issues, this is not a representative of all corpsman.
1. Repeated R.I.C.E. treatment for the 10+ sprains of the same ankle, labeled chronic (surgery needed now).
2. Motrin for a broken hand, went repeatedly for treatment (took a week to X-Ray and set, nerve damage)
3. Torn Calf (continued stretching the torn muscle as treatment, 1.5 years to heal)
4. Ordered from Navy Hospital ER in Portsmouth, VA because I wasn't in pain from auto accident that involved my truck being involved in a 3 car accident. Written order to not come back until i had internal bleeding or broken limbs. Nearly totaled a brand new truck. Pain was swimming upstream against 2 days of no sleep. Hit me 3 days later like a ton of bricks. Now have neck issues due to lack of treatment.
5. Fell down a flight of stairs and suffered permanent nerve damage to both arms/hands, idiot wrote "fell down flight of stairs" nothing else.
6. Lab reports showed a clear hypothyroidism case, swept under the rug and not diagnosed until 2 years after I got out. Fatal, if not treated.
Now this. He kept making comments like "missed the train", "can't find the issue", "why haven't you filed a statement?" (filed 3 already on this one case), "why hasn't your attorney done his job?" Needless to say I fired back regarding the VA's ability to handle the most basic of tasks to a retired CPO. He didn't like it and I don't care, I had far worse ones in my back pocket if he wanted to continue making slanted remarks about my honesty and my attorney. They had me write a statement requesting what I wanted done, I made a big scene regarding my nerve damage in front of over 20+ people and how much it hurt filling it out, IT REALLY HURT. Granted I am far from the only one and others have had it worse. How do I handle this situation from here?
1. Repeated R.I.C.E. treatment for the 10+ sprains of the same ankle, labeled chronic (surgery needed now).
2. Motrin for a broken hand, went repeatedly for treatment (took a week to X-Ray and set, nerve damage)
3. Torn Calf (continued stretching the torn muscle as treatment, 1.5 years to heal)
4. Ordered from Navy Hospital ER in Portsmouth, VA because I wasn't in pain from auto accident that involved my truck being involved in a 3 car accident. Written order to not come back until i had internal bleeding or broken limbs. Nearly totaled a brand new truck. Pain was swimming upstream against 2 days of no sleep. Hit me 3 days later like a ton of bricks. Now have neck issues due to lack of treatment.
5. Fell down a flight of stairs and suffered permanent nerve damage to both arms/hands, idiot wrote "fell down flight of stairs" nothing else.
6. Lab reports showed a clear hypothyroidism case, swept under the rug and not diagnosed until 2 years after I got out. Fatal, if not treated.
Now this. He kept making comments like "missed the train", "can't find the issue", "why haven't you filed a statement?" (filed 3 already on this one case), "why hasn't your attorney done his job?" Needless to say I fired back regarding the VA's ability to handle the most basic of tasks to a retired CPO. He didn't like it and I don't care, I had far worse ones in my back pocket if he wanted to continue making slanted remarks about my honesty and my attorney. They had me write a statement requesting what I wanted done, I made a big scene regarding my nerve damage in front of over 20+ people and how much it hurt filling it out, IT REALLY HURT. Granted I am far from the only one and others have had it worse. How do I handle this situation from here?
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Disabled Veterans
Disability
VA Claim
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 11
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PO2 Michael Henry I was a Disabled American Veterans Service Officer. I am not criticizing your attorney, personally. But no matter what an attorney tells you, they do not have the kind of access to the system as a National Service Officer. These are service officers who are accrediated and they adjuciate directly with the VA adjudicators. I am partial to DAV because I served with them for 13 years as a service officer and has been a member for about 20 years. Call the DAV National Service Office in your state and ask them for guidance. TELL THEM YOU HAVE AN ATTORNEY. Maybe their answers can help you decide what road you need to take (attorney or service officer). Go to http://www.dav.org to get their phone number. Calk and select the option for membership. Ask them to give you the regional office number in your state. Best to you.
DAV.org - Disabled American Veterans Charity
We invite everyone, veterans and civilian, men and women, young and old, to join us. Find a DAV Office or Volunteer to Help Veterans and the Disabled American Veterans Charity.
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PO2 Michael Henry
PO3 Phyllis Maynard - My attorney has had issues navigating the system to get to my files because of recent connection issues on the VA side. Ebenefits.va.gov has been up and down more times than the crypto market lately. I am actually part of the local DAV group and haven't been to meetings in about a year. Entirely to a work schedule that had me work Tuesday night shifts (7pm-7am) Now it's 11pm-7am so I have a chance. The DAV representative at the regional office is part of our group. Hopefully, I can get some details... Thanks.
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PO3 Phyllis Maynard
PO2 Michael Henry what a win-win. You can actually talk face to face and take as much time as you need to navigate through your current process. And if needed, hopefully, your comrade can work with both your schedules to set up an optimum meeting that works for both of you for as long as is needed. This is great news!
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PO2 Michael Henry
PO3 Phyllis Maynard - My attorney is planning on re-certifying the claim so hopefully it will force their hand and place it with the BVA. The VA hotline was able to quickly find the mistake and have filed several times to reopen the claim, they keep escalating the issue with higher priority, but no one seems to respond and it cycles. Whether this is related to their IT issues is unsure.
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Write a letter to Sen. Ted Cruz (if you are from Texas). His office is usually on top of stuff like this. Letter over phone call or email because they are Congressionally mandated to reply to a written letter and enter it in to a file. I have used Congress for a number of issues with sailors of mine through the years, and usually just a call from a Senator's office is enough to scare the people to do their job since they know a bigger fish is looking into it.
Best of luck to you, buddy.
I should have said that if you aren't from TX, then write the Senator from you home of record (where you vote). It is amazing how much they will do for a constituent....
Best of luck to you, buddy.
I should have said that if you aren't from TX, then write the Senator from you home of record (where you vote). It is amazing how much they will do for a constituent....
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PO2 Michael Henry
LT Brad McInnis - I'm from Houston, Tx. Actually my local DAV group met him last year. Selective group on this trip. I will check with my DAV group and see if they have his contact info or another trip is the works. Not a bad idea to get in touch with a Senator that has some clout. I don't want to be a 20+ year veteran of the the VA Disability Wars... I want to be able to use the back pay and pay off my debts so I can use the rest as a financial safety net while pursing IT work. Much has turned to PT or contract work in today's world. My hypothyroidism alone can get me 100%. My sister got it with less symptoms than I have for the same condition. My sleep apnea with CPAP can get me 50% which bumps me to 60%. The back pay with estimated wait times alone will pay off my debt and student loans. The GI Bill didn't quite last long enough.
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LT Brad McInnis
PO2 Michael Henry - Below is the online Constituent Service form. Send that, and also send a letter to his offices (DC) on the same page. On the envelope put Constituent Services. That should get the ball rolling.
https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=form&id=5
https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=form&id=5
If you are a Texas resident with a question about a federal agency, program, or process, we are happy to assist you. For assistance, please fill out the form below:
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SSG Mike Buchinski
LT Brad McInnis - I've written letters to the VA Secretary, President Trump and both Senators from Florida in January 2019. These inquiries aren't speeding up Anything! Both my claims (50% and 30%) were granted. One claim was approved by the DRO in St Petersburg on 9/6/18 and the other approved on 10/29/18 by the BVA. Retro pay goes back several years. In January 2019, I received a report of back pay numbers for the 30% claim. No numbers yet on the 50% claim. NO MONEY YET. Supposedly, both claims are at the Appeals Mgt Office. Another rep said they were in St Petersburg. Veterans, please disregard time frames mentioned on the VA.gov website (My VA) as they are ficticious and haven't been updated. Example, according to the site, I should have received my retro within 15 days of the decision. Won't recite the other examples. Btw, I've retained counsel a few years ago. I'm waiting the the day when I can evaluate the VA. Good Luck All and don't "hold your breath" waiting for claims decisions and retro pay.
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http://www.vetadvocates.org
These are the best VA attorneys in the US, the top of the legal food chain for VA claims, my wife and I started my stuff with one of the vet groups, however, mine got monstrously complex, which was why we found one of their attorneys with 3 years prior active, and about 35-40 years of VA claim practice, trust me, if you find a vet group is out of their depth, though they're all quite god, pay the retainer for one of the NOVA attorneys, use their search engine or call their office, and one with prior active if you can, however, they're all gpquite good, and then just do exactly what they say, let ten take what percentage VA allows attorneys, and believe me when I tell you, there well worth the fee they earn, OK? If you care to chat, just ask anything, our claim for me took six and a half years from start to finish for total perm disability, trust me, without the NOVA guys, we'd have been totally lost, our guy even got us supplemental pro bono help from a colleague law firm he also dealt with a good deal, the only other option we found is a vet law clinic at a law school, tywyre also god, however, they can't always help everyone, that's why if you need NOVA, get their help, test me, we've been really seriously impressed with them, promise, OK?
These are the best VA attorneys in the US, the top of the legal food chain for VA claims, my wife and I started my stuff with one of the vet groups, however, mine got monstrously complex, which was why we found one of their attorneys with 3 years prior active, and about 35-40 years of VA claim practice, trust me, if you find a vet group is out of their depth, though they're all quite god, pay the retainer for one of the NOVA attorneys, use their search engine or call their office, and one with prior active if you can, however, they're all gpquite good, and then just do exactly what they say, let ten take what percentage VA allows attorneys, and believe me when I tell you, there well worth the fee they earn, OK? If you care to chat, just ask anything, our claim for me took six and a half years from start to finish for total perm disability, trust me, without the NOVA guys, we'd have been totally lost, our guy even got us supplemental pro bono help from a colleague law firm he also dealt with a good deal, the only other option we found is a vet law clinic at a law school, tywyre also god, however, they can't always help everyone, that's why if you need NOVA, get their help, test me, we've been really seriously impressed with them, promise, OK?
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