VA staff is buried in backlog of unlimited veterans disability appeals

[nitpicker]

http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/va-staff-is-buried-in-backlog-of-unlimited-veterans-disability-appeals-1.380230

VA staff is buried in backlog of unlimited veterans disability appeals

By Alan Zarembo

Los Angeles Times

Published: November 23, 2015


LOS ANGELES (Tribune News Service) —
(snip)

Figueroa’s is the oldest case among the more than 425,000 now swamping a veterans appeals system that advocates and government officials say is badly broken.

The appeals system does not have enough staff to handle the record number of veterans — from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as Vietnam — filing for disability payments over the last decade, then appealing when all or part of their claims are denied.

But experts point to a more fundamental problem. Unlike U.S. civil courts, the appeals system has no mechanism to prevent endless challenges. Veterans can keep their claims alive either by appealing or by restarting the process from scratch by submitting new evidence: service records, medical reports or witness statements.
(snip)

The backlog has occurred as the VA has celebrated its success in whittling down delays in processing new claims. Fewer than 80,000 veterans have currently been waiting more than 125 days for initial decisions, down from a peak of more than 600,000 two years ago.

The number awaiting appeals, however, climbed from 167,412 in September 2005 to 425,480 this October.

Veterans’ advocates say the VA has simply traded one problem for another, having shifted many of the agency’s workers from appeals to initial claims.
(snip)

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Given how many veterans have restarted claims numerous times simply because they've gotten lost

or never gotten processed, I think it's a dangerous idea to start talking about the filing or refiling as the problem.

And our veterans aren't appealing because they're grifters. The government is shafting them. It would be a hell of a lot simpler to just start approving more claims.

[newfie11]

2. Unlimited wars create this problem

[yellowrose45]

3. standing with survivors of Veterans Hospital sexual assault. #doctoredabuse

#UniteAgainstRape UniteWomen.org stands with survivors of Military sexual assault.

Julia Perry's story: "I stand in solidarity with military sex abuse survivors, because I was a proud Sailor, until my pelvis was fractured & didn't heal. I was medically discharged, still needing lots of care for the chronic pain. The Department of Veterans Affairs put a physician on my case who was a liar and sexual predator. He convinced me to undergo unapproved treatment, no nurse present, and I was raped. Continuous patient exploitation pushed me to run out of the state to re-start my life. He located me again and stalked me for months, even taking time off from medical duties & being on medical school clinical faculty to fly out and say to me, "I have done you a grave disservice." Mainly he tried to see if I remembered all I'd been through. Yeah, I do.

There is such a thing as an “Iatrogenic Illness,” which is one resulting from the activity of a health care provider or institution; said of any adverse condition in a patient resulting from treatment by a physician or allied health professional. You know Uncle Sam will not let that term be associated with my life.

Twenty-nine years later, my disability claim JUST got me entitled to appear for a VA evaluation for PTSD and a week later, I received a landmark award, in principle, for benefits. I won a claim under Sec. 1151, Title 38, U.S.C., which is for an injury or illness occurring as a result of VA treatment. However, to retaliate against me, the VA made my "effective date" 22 years later than the 1992 claim documents--I only got retroactive benefits from Jan. 27, 2014 to Mar. 31, 2014. The psychologist PTSD evaluator specifically wrote: "Veteran reported sexual trauma to multiple VAMC providers, but a timely diagnosis and treatment is not evident, the result being that the disability (PTSD) continued to progress.” The Veterans Benefits Administration threw that into “file 13.”

The monetary recovery is a pittance because of the chicanery of ignoring when I filed the claim or when my medical record took notice of it, and substituting the date I wrote a letter asking President Obama not to just look at campus assaults, but those by medical professionals, too. This sick physician had a track record; I got his state license to practice suspended; another violation while he was on probation, for what he did to me, got him turned in by a co-worker, and made his license get revoked for life. In the documents, a matter of public record by Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, the Agreed Order says, "violated the boundaries of the doctor-patient relationship, therefore his conduct constitutes unprofessional and dishonorable conduct that deceived, defrauded and/or injured J.P. and constitutes a deviation from the acceptable standard of care."

You all should know military and veterans facility doctors do not have to carry malpractice coverage The VA won't do anything about it, they're incensed I even expected them to investigate. Congresspersons haven't been able to bring any attention to this plight, either. There are doctors who rape, it's too awful for people to think about. My mother told me I "had better just see to it that it stays out of the newspaper, so don't have to be embarrassed in front of my friends." Veterans (after service) assaulted in VA care need as much a safety net (powerful media presence, legislation, pro bono assistance with taking a legal stand, admission to VA inpatient MST programs, etc.) as those still in uniform."


A VA doctor raped, exploited and stalked me. He admits he did me a grave disservice. Public record in TX: "Deceived, defrauded and/or injured." "Deviation from the acceptable standard of care." Veterans assaulted in VA care need as much of a safety net as those still in uniform.

https://www.facebook.com/UniteWomen/photos/pb.302448176483395.-2207520000.1460227877./940607899334083/?type=3&theater