One step closer to a more accurate decision on my VA disability claim, thanks to the Decision Review Officer hearing today.
He listened to my attorney's presentations on our four main contentions, and had some interesting statements which went on the record. The hearing was recorded, formal, and I was sworn in before it began.
Contentions:
1) The VA rater(s) erred on the bilateral hearing loss claim, by not taking into consideration the 1977 audiology tests at VA Medical Center San Francisco (3 months after discharge from service) in which the diagnosis was disabling bilateral hearing loss. Coupled with present audiology, the DRO stated that the Veteran Benefits Administration did in fact make a mistake in denying the claim, and pending an examination of the 1977 record by an audiologist he will grant the claim. Not big money in this one, most hearing loss claims are rated at 0% which still counts, but pays very little.
2) Hyperextended left elbow. My attorney presented medical records from West Point, Ft. Benning, and Ft. Ord which showed accidents while resulted in medical records showing injury to the left elbow, upper arm, and shoulder. And current x-rays show bone spurs on the elbow which are very old and clearly the result of muscle tears. Added to the induction tests done at VA Medical Center Martinsburg WV in 2010, which show nerve attenuation between the shoulder and lower arm, and I may get the denied claim reversed. It all hinges on my current Orthopedic Surgeon writing an opinion. So this is the most iffy and likely to get denied again part of it, since there is no medical record between "then" and "now" to show on-going problems.
Now, the heavy hitters, in terms of potential rating percentages...
3) TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) - the DRO says that he will grant service-connected status to the existence of TBI.
4) Chronic Severe Depression - the DRO says he grants the depression and makes it secondary to (caused by) TBI.
5) PTSD - the DRO says he grants PTSD and makes it secondary to TBI.
So with the two secondary, aggravating disabilities, the rating percent is probably minimum of 60% and might go as high as 80 or 90%. Combined with my existing rating, and the weight of the bilateral hearing loss if they find it currently disabling to any degree (it is, in fact, but getting VA to say so is not easy) I could conceivably achieve the magic number .... 100%. And maybe even "unable to work" forcing the Social Security Administration to give me SS Disability Retirement income.
Now, I have seen VA get this far and turn around and back track and issue confounding and contradictory decisions before, but this DRO is a senior rater with decades of experience who no longer works for VA or even VBA, so his job doesn't depend on them, and his word is law. Given how easily he put in the official transcript that TBI in the service occurred, that depression was then and is now diagnosed, and PTSD is diagnosed now, I am hopeful he will not do something 180 degree from what he said he would do.
Now need more medical exams, and an audiologist to read the 1977 audiology report, and a couple shrinks to write opinions sufficient to define the disabilities clearly as service-connected and causing life problems.
Its been since 2010 getting to this point. Another 4 months or so and it will be done. If I don't like the answer, I could still take it to Veterans Appeals Court but the decision would have to be really stupid before I'd do that.
Hopeful......
EDIT: and the inability to remember a train of thought more than 15-20 seconds and so to wander while speaking and writing caused this edit, it is called cognitive disorder, and it is a symptom of TBI.
Maybe retirement will come a little earlier than July 2014....
* Last updated by: privateer on 4/3/2013 @ 6:10 PM *
