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Veterans' Advocate and "all 'round good guy," Jim is available to answer questions for Veterans and their families on a wide variety of issues. He has dealt extensively with the VA and has a background in the medical field.
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This is not legal advice. You should always seek the advice of an attorney who is qualified in Veterans' law before you make any decisions about your own benefits. Visit Stateside Legal (below) for assistance with legal issues.
NOTE: Letters in my Q&A columns are reprinted just as they come to me. Spelling and grammar are left as is and only small corrections are made to improve readability, ensure anonymity or delete expletives that may offend some readers. This is not legal advice. You should always seek the advice of an attorney who is qualified in Veterans' law before you make any decisions about your own benefits.
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Several Questions
Several Questions
Jim,
Just a couple of questions you may be able to answer for me..
1) The RO has had my file for two or three months my last c&ps were last october 20 2010 is this normal for a rater to take this much time to approve or deny a claim?
2) I had included also on my claim in april 2000 and again in 2007 that my fluacting blood pressuer was due to agent orange also my primary va dr stated in his report that the high blood pressuer was more than likely due to my exposuer of agent orange is the fact that va conceded my exposuer to agent orange and combat i guess becuse i was at the dmz 3rd mar div they denied it. is it even claim you can file?
Thank you for your info
Semper Fi
Reply:
(1) The amount of time it will take to adjudicate your claim is never predictable. The scheme for processing claims seems to change almost every day at the VA Regional Offices. There are shifting priorities, training requirements, vacation and sick leave for critical personnel, snow days and a dozen other excuses that work isn't done in a timely fashion.
I see a claim like yours one day that is decided within a month of the C & P exam and a similar claim, even at the same RO, may wait a year for that final decision.
(2) High blood pressure (HBP or hypertension) is always a difficult call to make. A lot of us find that as we get older our blood pressure creeps ever higher and suddenly we're on medication and the doctor tells us we must lose weight. We can't blame everything on our service.
The condition is not presumptive to agent orange exposure. That means you must provide evidence that proves that your individual case of hypertension is directly caused by your exposure. Even though your VA doctor tried to help you with a good nexus letter, VA may return a decision that will say that his opinion is "mere speculation" as there is little hard scientific evidence that positively links herbicide exposure to hypertension. If you were diagnosed with the condition while on active duty or within one year of ETS, you are then likely to be awarded a service connected rating. Otherwise, chances are slim.
Even those veterans who are awarded a service connection for hypertension are usually surprised to discover that the rating is as low as 0% or 10%. That's because high blood pressure is usually easily controlled by medicines and it isn't "disabling". The rating is worth pursuing because even if it's a 0% service connected rating, future conditions like peripheral vascular disease of the legs or kidneys or even devastating conditions like a stroke may be secondary to hypertension.
"Is it a claim you can even file?" Yes. A veteran may file any claim he or she believes is connected to their military service. There are no restrictions. The law once dictated that any claim had to be "well grounded" or VA could toss it out without much effort but that has changed. VA now has a "duty to assist" veterans to adjudicate all claims fairly.
This does not mean that veterans should file claims that clearly have no connection and are frivolous. To do so adds additional work to the system and interferes with the processing of veterans claims that should be getting the attention.
Vet Centers - help with PTSD
Jim,
I am a Vietnam veteran who upon returning to the states I never talked about having served. When asked in church to stand if you are a veteran I never did. I did not talk to family, wives, and even other veterans for over 40 years. I have gone through several marriages. I have no contact with my children. I have been fired several times becuase of relationship issues in the workplace. I have always had a very difficult time sleeping. I have had chronic migraine headaches since I got out of the service. I had an incident at work and the company doctors diagnosed me as having PTSD, severe short term memory problems, chronic migraine headaches, and severe hearing loss in both ears. This was in 2008.
The doctors advised that I go to the VA and make a claim. I did and was given 10% for hearing loss and 50% for PTSD in 2010. My company kept me on their disability plan for 2 1/2 years and then placed me on retirement because of a clause that any mental illness releases them from providing disability payments. This occured this year. During the 2 1/2 years I saw a pychiatrist once a week. Dr. Sekhon told me that I was 100% PTSD. The Doctor at the VA stated that I had chronic PTSD. My primary doctor at the VA states that I should be 100% and that I will never be able to work again.
My current wife has kept me from going to jail. The companies in the past kept me from going to jail. I was put in jail twice for assault and battery but, the charges were dropped by the plaintiff. Normally, I'm fine. If someone becomes agressive I immediately take the offense. My last employer will not give me any references and their doctors will not release me to be employed. The pychiastrist I worked with will not release me to go back to work.
I appealed for ringing in the ear about a year ago. I was denied because I didn't say anything about it when I was examined. I did say something about when I made the initial request. It is still pending.
I have appealed the 50% PTSD and have requested unemployability. This has been in the works for over a year.
I have a VA Administrator who helps me file the requests. He has told me both of the requests are pending. My VA primary doctor gave me a name of someone in the government who may be able to help me.
I didn't ask for this to happen to me. I didn't know that I suffered for over 40 years with these problems. I am never really happy I just exist.
What are your thoughts?
Reply:
My thoughts? I'm not going to focus on your claims. You and I can do that in the future if you would like to. I want to comment on your health.
I believe that you are very typical of tens of thousands of Vietnam combat veterans. I read your story every day from guys just like you. I have a buddy here in my town who refuses to deal with VA, he won't talk of his Vietnam experiences and he suffers in silence. He worked for me at one time and we became good friends. He was one of my best employees and worked hard.
He's been lucky. He has held a steady job for over 3 decades and his marriage has lasted that long. His daughters are delightful, normal ladies who have children of their own. He enjoys all that as long as it's within the confines of his own house.
However, he suffers. He can't ever go to any activities of normal life. He has never been shopping. He can't go into a theater and watch a movie. He doesn't get out and go fishing, he doesn't travel on vacation. He is always angry but bottles it in and rarely talks about it.
Every day when he gets home from work he smokes marijuana and he sits, mostly alone, and watches TV.
Most fellows I hear from aren't as lucky as he is. They drink heavily, have arrest and conviction records for all sorts of things, usually anger and alcohol related. They can't hold jobs and marriages fall apart all too often.
Sound familiar? You are not alone.
I can offer you a partial solution to the problem. What you do with this is up to you.
You may not realize it but VA has a thing called a "Vet Center" that is designed just for Vietnam combat veterans. These centers are scattered all across America and unless you live in the wilderness, it's very likely that a vet center is close enough for you to get to.
Yeah, these are VA controlled places. But they operate independently of the usual VA paperwork mess. The vet center has a team of professional mental health counselors to talk with you. Many vet centers are run by a Vietnam combat veteran.
I have a good friend here at home who is a Vietnam combat veteran of the USMC. He didn't have much of a problem until about 8 years ago when he was diagnosed with the agent orange cancer non-Hodgkins lymphoma (n-Hl). He was near death and rushed into cancer treatments at our VA Medical Center. He survived and the cancer returned. This has happened 7 times now. He's had chemo, radiation and even a bone marrow transplant.
The health care he's received has been above and beyond excellent. I estimate VA has spent a couple million dollars keeping him upright and VA never blinked at the expense.
As you can imagine, all of his Vietnam experiences came rushing back to him as he got sicker and sicker. The PTSD was so bad for a while that I personally removed his weapons from his house and talked him down a lot.
Then he started to go to the local Vet Center. He received really good counseling and he attends a group session without fail. There are about 8 guys in his group and all have similar experiences to his...not the cancer but of the Vietnam service.
I think the Vet Center saved his life as much as the cancer treatments did. He hasn't "recovered"...how could he? But he lives a much better life today because of the care he got through his Vet Center.
You will get out of it what you put into it. My buddy is active and wants to help others. He encourages fun meetings with the guys...he hosts fish fries and barbecues and birthday parties. Using my knowledge base he helps his buddies with benefits issues. He's invited me to come and visit with his friends.
So...it's now your call. You can figure out the closest vet center to you by clicking here http://www2.va.gov/directory/guide/vetcenter_flsh.asp
Good luck brother.
Lawyer's fees for disability claims
Jim,
First off, I just want to say thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to veteran’s everywhere! I have a question pertaining to private attorneys and veteran’s disability law. Is there a legal cap to what a lawyer can be paid from retroactive disability claims? I know the cap for SSDI claims is $6,000 or 25% whichever is cheaper, but I’m having a hard time finding a definitive answer about veteran’s claims and caps. Please assist if you can and thank you again for your ongoing service!
Reply:
VA sets the fee at a standard 20% of any retroactive dollars awarded. That fee is strict with few exceptions. Attorneys who have incurred travel expenses, extraordinary administrative expenses and so on may ask VA for reimbursement but they may or may not be allowed such fees.
Each VA Regional Office even has an "Attorney Fee Coordinator" office that monitors cases handled by lawyers. To my knowledge there are fewer disputes about fees than in civil cases that work on contingency.
I do hear from a few vets who tell me that they have received a reward of $150,000.00 plus or minus and suddenly they don't want the attorney to get 20%. They believe that because the lawyer wasn't properly holding their hand for the 3 years it took to resolve their case, he or she wasn't worth that much. Once a case is decided and the award is made, the veteran has 60 days to tell VA why the lawyer shouldn't get paid...or the vet can waive that right and allow the lawyer to be paid immediately.
VA usually decides those cases for the lawyer. I have yet to see a case where the attorney didn't earn the fee honestly.
I'm one of those who fought hard to have lawyers represent veterans. Prior to 2007 vets couldn't retain lawyers at all until their appeals reached the courts. Lawyers have, as I'd predicted, started to make a positive difference for us within VA. Your VA continues to unjustly delay and deny but the veteran who is represented by a lawyer comes into a more level playing field.
Be sure to use Jim's: "A to Z GUIDE OF VETERANS DISABILITY COMPENSATION BENEFITS"
click here...
And, for answers to questions and great advice, go to Jim's discussion board, "STRAIGHT TALK FOR MILITARY VETERANS"
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Please use the section below for general comments. E-mail Jim directly at jim912@gmail.com for answers to specific questions. Thanks!
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