This report was done in 2007. McClatchy was bought out Knight Rider news in that year, but McClatchy has kept much of Chris Adams research. This article points out the VA's Mode of Operation, and the article shows the VA's desire to show itself as tops in the country through minions embellishments. Chris Adams has been a top research/report and has done a great job at bringing out the truth in Veterans Treatment.

VA medical system isn't as big a success as officials have asserted
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/staff/chris_ada...tory/16149.html

Excerpt from Chris Adam article:

While the VA's health system has gotten very good marks for a transformation it's undertaken over the past decade, the department also has a habit of overselling its progress in ways that assure Congress and others that the agency has enough resources to care for the nation's soldiers.
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Joe Galloway, is also an excellent Veterans Reporter, who went to McClatchy in the buy out. Joe's articles are here. Joe help me with information about my claims and I will not forget it.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/

Yes -they DO distort info-

and it is up to us as claimants, if they distort or manipulate something in a SOC -to challenge it right away.

I still get angry over something I got in a SSOC over 10 years ago.

It was not a 'distortion' as much as the fact that they left out critical wording in a C & P report.That is reallyu the same thing anyhow-I guess-
They used part of the doctor's sentence and forgot the rest of it.

And then continually 'lost' the medical evidence that overruled the way they manipulated his wording.

They used this parsed statement to deny my claim but then I made them eat those words.

I think it is a crime ( and violation of our rights as within the recent CAVC remand at VA Watchdog)for the VA to manipulate our evidence (and even their own evidence-as in my past claim) this way.

They also hide info that could help Veterans with their claims.

Does the VA have a Form that asks a Doc if they see something that the Veterans they are helping would need an objective look to see if it is service connectible?

Right, I think the VA only gives out information when the vet confronts them with intelligent questions the vet already knows the answers for. If you don't know, the VA ain't going to tell you. I imagine the widows who go to the VA and ask if they are eligible for some kind of survivor benefit. If they don't know their rights I bet they get a pack of distortions and half-truths. Most spouses of vets in nursinng homes don't know they are entitled to aid and assitance to help defray these costs. One thing Elder Law attorneys tout is the fact they can get extra money for the spouses of vets who are in nursing homes. They charge for this information because the VA does not tell the spouse. My Aunt was getting DIC when she went into a nursing home. I knew she was entitled to some extra benefit. I got the VA to contribute significant money to pay the nursing home. My Aunt was not on medicade so this helped her bottom line. I believe the VA's thinking is that unless the vet demands the benefits he/she is due then we will just let it slide. They must have some affirmative duty to inform vets and survivors/dependents of their potential benefits. They just ignore the duty and nobody gets whacked for that negligence.

I just hate it when they only allow your statement(s) when it is useful in denying your claim.

BoonDoc

Are you ever so right Berta, as you usually are, thanks from us.
The VA...Their motto is the 9 D's:
Deny; Distort; Discourage; Deflame; Dismiss; Disguise; Discard: Destroy; and they hope the vet will DIE!!

Thanks for the find Stretch. Joe Galloway is right on target. I bookmarked the link, for future reads. I still think that the VA has the wool pulled over the eyes of this civilian world.

In my original claim for IU the VA took part of a sentence out of the context of my doctor's letter to deny my claim. I won in the end, but I had to get another IMO to refute just those four words and it cost me. It was dirty business and just a clear attempt to deny my claim. The VA has distorted some of the issues in my CUE claim so much I did not even recognize it. That is when I got a lawyer. The VA was trying to add a medical report 15 years after the error to deny the CUE claim. They will pull the wool over anyone's eyes if they can get away with it.

I'm going through similar VA "dirty business' John. ...I just wish I could sue for punitive damages, also...

Bob

I wish we could just get interest on our retro. There has to be some punishment for the VA when it delays a claim for years via some underhand method. If there is no punishment for them like punitive damage they will just keep on doing it to vets, and only the most persistent will win. As it stands now what is to stop them from just denying claims forever? If you finally win all you get is the retro you should have gotten in the beginning. I don't even know how I won my claim for sure.
I had plenty evidence, but so what?

[It was not a 'distortion' as much as the fact that they left out critical wording in a C & P report.That is reallyu the same thing anyhow-I guess-
They used part of the doctor's sentence and forgot the rest of it.]

Berta,
I had the same thing happen to me on several occations. Dr Bash's IMO's were that way. They changed the wording so the sentence meant something else.
Since Veterans benefits now come under 5th amendment laws. Does this mean evidence laws under the 5th apply? Under the fifth admendment, I don't believe evidence can be concealed or altered.

If we are protected under 5th Amendment with VA we don't have to tell them anything that we don't want to.

Actually what I see here is the Court telling the VA that they are not above the law and Veterans have rights.

I think your on to something here, now we have the lawyers looking at this it's going to blow the whole thing wide open. Just like when the AMC rater twisted the words on the C&P to that were meant to bolster the denial. Had to point that out to them.

I requested my VA MR's a few years ago, and was given an incomplete set. However, there was one copy of a C&P exam that I had last Summer that has false information in it. I read it several times, and noticed several statements that they quoted me as saying that were from two different answers form different psychotherapy sessions to make it look as though I had pre-existing issues, prior to service.

I have been waiting to request a copy of my VA MR's since my claim is at the rating board, but if the information that the rater is using is incorrect, I think that I might go ahead and get the records for my appeal, always plan for the worst case scenario and hope for the best, or better.

When the VA is caught doing these kinds of things they should have their feet held to the fire, and We should be able to be compensated financially for deliberate fraud.

I need to read up on how to ask for an extension to the 60 days to appeal the decision, so I have time to gather more records if they rule against My claim.

BoonDoc

"The VA has distorted some of the issues in my CUE claim so much I did not even recognize it."

John-this is what they did to my CUE claim too-

It started out simple- I believe a CUE claim should be short and sweet.
Jus stating after This is a claim under CUE, that these are the regs they broke, and this is how those errors manifestedly altered the outcome of the past unappealed denial.

I had 2 no brainer CUEs.

They spent a lot of time manipulating them without considering any of my legal evidence.

Now they are stuck.

My award from the BVA should render a proper accrued SMC decision.
I have written to them and told them this new decision would render my CUE claims moot issues and they now have to rate properly and make a SMC decision.
I also told them it would be another CUE on VA's part if they now send the SMC CUE claim to the BVA.
Due to the recent BVA award I got (which they buggered up too)

And I recently mailed them copy of letter I sent to Chairman Terry and Congressman Filner making this same point but primarily on their erroneous RO award letter.

My claims were with a supervisor for 2 weeks and now with a DRO again.
They listed the BVA decision as evidence in the award but never even read it.

They will do all they can to confound and confuse a CUE issue.

I have rebutted every single thing they said in the last two RO letters I got regarding my CUE claims.

But they dont even have to deal with it- I could withdraw it-
with the proper SMC award based on the recent BVA award.

I explained this to them like they are ten years old.

Because I want it documented in the record (reminded them this too) that the appeal cannot go forward until they render a proper SMC decision due to my recent AO death award.

Due to Nehmer (I have to remind them of that all the time) the BVA decision made their job easy regarding this CUE.

I know the BVA got the point in the letter I sent to Chairman Terry-and I ended the letter saying this is one reason for the backlog-
claims that can be easily resolved at the RO level are sent to the BVA -and then remanded-
and they probably high five any notification that the claimant has died in the meantime.

PS (I didnt say the high five part in the letter to James Terry-but the BVA knows I gave the VARO my beneficiary info and contact info for my lawyer who has my will- referring to Nehmer and to the fact that Nehmer has rules regarding our survivors and the AO money has to be paid to someone if I die.
We are in a class action John and it gets me angry that VA forgets that)

LOL

Ok I have a confession to make. After a couple of years of duking it out with the VA I included a short note with some information I was providing. It went something like this:

After due consideration and deliberation I (name of Veteran and C File #) declare War on the VA and any of its agencies and accomplishes including all Service Organizations and the Texas VSO.

Since I am at War anything I do to advance my claim against the US Government and their unfair tactics is acceptable.

I than signed it and sent to VARO and I know it is filed away in my C file in all likelihood never read.

So anyone who thinks that the VA plays fair or has your interest at heart I have a Bridge to Nowhere that I could sell you cheap.

Even though I have won my claim I have not agreed to Peace Terms.

For the above reasons I take particular delight in trying to help Veterans win their claims.

Another point is the way a RO leads the C and P examiners with off the wall questions.
Lets say you broke your collar bone as a little child and it has healed and you injure your shoulder in service and file a claim.

Both are in the VA folder.

Here is the question: Please state the association between the Veterans current shoulder disability and the fracture sustained 15 years prior to service.

This is unacceptable but it is done every day.

J

Wanted to thank you pete, all the other mods/elders for all your help. I would have gone postal if i didn't get the help, and perspective I have gotten from you guys. My paranoia was running rampid when i finally recognized what was going on. I thought at one point I was the only one struggling so intensely with the ways of the VA. After all, there is no logical way these so called professionals could be this unprofessional....Right?................Wrong, they can be.

I wasn't the special needs problem child after all. That certainly is how they make you feel though. They know when a person isolates as much as I do, that that person is much more influential to the games they like to play.

I can certainly testify to that.....Always have someone with you in those C&P's... The other was my DRO Hearing when ever I made solid valid "in your face points" it was listed a inaudible or there interpretation of what I meant. Raters do the same they will even interpret doctors opinions to discount your claim.... My claim just about had it all..Yog

Distortion, well, thats a kind word for not telling the truth.

My thoughts, experiences and reflections, which may or may not be true, depending if its read by a rater, compensation examiner or my regular provider, but certainly never stated by me in the terms they use, ha!

The veteran 'reports' that...the veteran 'denies' that....are my gripes. How can a examiner and rater manipulate a response without including the inquiry statement? Don't know, but they do.

This is ficticious but very probable scenario for depression and anxiety claim.

For example. the conversation goes somethin like this - smiling Doc says "I can see in your records that you are intelligent (compliment to warm me up) you know when I was a kid the teacher told me I was one of the smartest and squirrliest she'd ever known' did you ever have a teacher tell you something like that?" uh oh....thats fishing for a response - veteran laughs "yeah, I guess I did get good marks in school and trying to sit still on those wooden seats all day was hard, so I probably squirmed around too".

Compensation exam reads 'veteran reports ADD/ADHD in elementary school'.
Rating states 'veteran reports ADD/ADHD prior to service'

so i was taking cognitive tests pre-screening for tbi. i was trying to relate that my seemingly affected and lowered executive functioning limited my fluidity in multi-tasking. my mind gets wrapped around the axle and it is hard for me to communicate what i really mean sometimes, especially when anxiety/depression is peaking such as oh say during a cognitive test pre-screening for tbi. i remember saying something like "i can do one single thing really well" at a time. the psych doc jotted down a note to herself immediately. now i'm afraid that will equate, to the va's benefit, that i am cured, that i can do all kinds of crap and do it extremely well. forget not being able to work, forget your 100 percent rating, you just incriminated yourself and that will obviously be taken away or low-balled and all of the other horror stories i hear on here in regards to other vets. you're right, why do we even talk to these people?

Don't stress yourself out about what the Dr. wrote down. You can pick up a copy of her report at the VA med. center or VARO in a few weeks. Besides,... She was probably writing down something on her grocery list.,... milk, eggs, oh yea, nuts. etc. I know that the VAMCs are full of wonderful doctors, however some of the worst caregivers I have ever met, work at a VA hospital. I feel sick just driving past the place. Sorry, but that's just been my experience

thanks, i did set myself a reminder in a few weeks to get a copy of the report. it may have been just a casual remark about how that (single tasking) with my possible tbi or could have been the grocery list like you said, but it was written along the margins of a paper she was using, along with at least a dozen other shorthanded looking scribbles, so thus my paranoia. i remember bells and whistles going off, although at a distance, that i had made a comment that was one you don't make to the va. kind of like the psych had an "aha, gotcha" moment. i've had pretty supportive experiences with my vamc, just don't want that to change.

Just watch out for questions the VA can turn into a personality disorder. If you smoked a joint in high school you are a sociopath in their books.

Not only does VA distort information they ignore eveidence that they have that will help Veterans. They are like the Cig Companies denying that their product caused cancer by saying there was no evidence that supports that conclusion when they had the information themselves.

Liars and cheats they should be ashamed

Pete:

I have a undergraduate degree in Psychology and I believe you just defined a sociopath=no conscience. I suppose they do testing for that trait for any position in the VA/VSO employment gene pool.

Naturally there are exceptions, which I met a VSO just yesterday, though a little, well, a lot on the uninformed side, but the vast majority neets that criteria. Good call.

If this joint was known from the start, advertised better, somehow available to newbies like me earlier in the process, it would cut the lawyer hiring and VSO joining greatly. That is unless you just want to hang out and shoot pool. Nothing wrong with that now I think about it.

PS I wonder how they would respond to me posting this site on the bulletin board at my chapter.

A good VSO is discovered and usually burns out in a few years.

You better watch it with that psychology degree. The VA accused me of fraud based on the fact I had a degree in psychology when I made a mental health claim. That is the kind of C&P doctors you are dealing with at the VA. The exam doctor said my answers to his questions were to exact, thus fraud. I got the exam thrown out, but it took over a year. When you go for a C&P exam you have to act dumb, and try and look pitiful.

If you have a degree is psychology than the VA has to admit any evidence that you provide on your condition?

Or gets jaded. There is an elitist attitude among some established U.S.Congressional chartered veterans organizations' "National Service Officer" enclaves. Some of them begin to actually think they are lawyers.

You are right, John. Therein lies my problem. My last C&P exam, I dressed in my best suit, with a starched white shirt. I spoke in complete sentences and questioned the stupid remarks she made. She had an attitude, and it showed, I'm still thinking about reporting her to the AMA and any other professional associations she may belong to, outside the VA.. Maybe that's why the rater ignored all the other evidence, and denied my claim based on her exam. LOL ...I'll clean his clock on appeal.

I learned from my first C&P when I wore my Xmas gift a leather coat with clean clothes and polished shoes.

Now if its a C&P I go clean but usually not shaved for a couple of days.

CMDR. Bob you nailed it. So many I have spoken with just honestly didn't feel they owed you the time of day. If they spent five minutes on the phone with you was a vast condenscending service to you, which you did not desrerve.

Pete: You have a presumption of soundness if you are accepted into service without a disability being noted, and VA has the burden to show the opposite by clear and unmistakable evidence.

The VA didn't hesitate to demonstrate clear and unmistakable evidence they deined my chronic anxiety without regard to their or any mental health worker. They stated I could not prove it was service related. I'm not going into the details but did you go on sick call for emotional instability. I personally signed on and wanted to complete the six years I owed my Government. Stupid. But they require proof it was SC and injury marks don't count, at least in my case. I decided to let that drop and focus on the lumbar injury to simplify things and I do have records for that. They don't want to recognize them but what's new?
Your moto saying is the most obvious thing in the world. Are they going to accept emotionally unstable kids? Of course not so why is it not incumbent upon the VA to prove your psychological problems come from elsewhere and then exactly where.

Whatever, business as usual.

Right, Pete, I am my own expert witness. Well, not really since I just got a BA in psychology, but I was in group therapy for about 25 years. That is where I got my life back together from living on the street.

I hate to say this but I know more about Panic Disorder than most of the shrinks I have seen at the VA. I learned by using the internet to discuss it with people who have panic disorder. You would be surprised at what people with panic disorder share,

One of these days I will tell y'all

Pete

Your 25 years of clinical treatment gives you more insight than most green psychologists, which I am posting for the sake of those without the benefit of psych degrees, but as far as the VA is concerned that would be irrelevant other than proof of treatment and notes etc.

Your Psychology Degree (BA) should be weighted in my opinion since you know most everything a psychologist knows, minus the clincal work and thesis/course work. Point being your statements regarding pschological disorders (Psycho-Pathology) should and I wish I could find the legal standing on that for a undergraduate degree with extensive personal experience in a particular aspect compared to a masters degree with no background except what they have read and learned under the clinical guidance of a professor.

Naturally whatever the answer is will be that which benefits the loyal opposition (VA).

You have accomplished a lot and should be proud of that. That is a long way to travel! Not just everybody can make such a transition.

I suspect though the only thing the VA would consider would be a Phd. in the proper form IAW CFR 38. I haven't received the VBM yet but I suppose that would give guidance on that.