Does the VA have the ability to record you during an appointment with your doctor? I don’t have the answer but the guys in the discussion below are convinced that the VA has installed the capability with the intent to use it. The following link is the first episode of the Richard Lenoard Show, a series on the VA caregiver program (CPAFC) suspected shenagains. The revalation of the VA listening device system begins about half way through this one hour show. Take it for what its worth!
I am really glad that someone finally figured out the fact that some shenanagins were going on with the leadership, CEAT teams, and social workers who never understood the rules and regulations of the program, much less abided by those rules. I, personally, will never trust a VA social worker again.
I appealed six times. I wrote to the President of the USA, the Vice President, and the Secretary of the DVA. I wrote my congressional representives and I wrote my Senators. I wrote to the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. I called an complained to the VISN. I called out the CEAT teams from multiple VISNS about the arbatrary decisions being made. I complained to multiple social workers and patient advocates. My complaints fell on deaf ears. I would like to think that somehow, my complaints, when considered amoung many other complaints managed to make a difference.
On June 22, 2022, I won the very first PCAFC caregiver case to be heard before the BVA for level 2 caregiver benefits.
John, to answer your question and tell you more about foot drop, as you asked.
When you have foot drop, you can no longer lift the front of your foot. When you take a step on a tile, or other solid surface, your foot strikes the floor toes first instead of heel first. That situation trips you and you have to run to catch up in order keep yourself from falling. Some times you can’t catch up, and you fall.
When you have foot drop you can stand on your toes, but you can no longer stand on your heels.
You can press down on the gas pedal and you can press down the brake pedal, but you can’t let off of the gas or brake pedal unless you lift your entire leg from the hip.
In the case of foot drop, an Ankle Foot Orthotic brace (AFO) is prescribed. The AFO, with its spring loaded action causes your foot to raise at the toe when lifted off of the floor and your heel to strike the floor first as your foot goes down in the next step. An amputation is never prescribed for foot drop.
As far as driving, a person who has foot drop most probably has already adjusted and actually, without realizing it, raises the entire leg at the hip to decelerate or come off of the brake pedal.
If you are awarded the automobile grant, because of the foot drop and resultant loss of use, you will also be awarded the adaptive equipment grant. A steering wheel knob with hand controls will solve the driving problem.
Once you know what foot drop is, you can sit on a bench or chair in the hallway at the VA and watch the guys feet as they walk. You can pick out the ones who have foot drop. Some drag their toes, some have developed a high stepping gait, some swing a foot out sideways to keep it from dragging, but you can hear the foot slap the floor as they walk. They are not even aware that they have foot drop.
All of those guys that you spot walking down the hall with foot drop would qualify for shoes and braces (AFOs). All would qualify for one or two $971.00 each yearly clothing allowances. Some would qualify for special monthly compensation “L” and some would possibly qualify for SMC at the “O” rate, Most would qualify for the approximately $22,000.00 automobile allowance w/ adaptive equipment, and some would qualify for the special adaptive housing grant (SAH), of $108,000.00. IF THEY ONLY KNEW!
A legacy participant in the VA caregiver program (CPAFC) is a post 9/11 veteran who was in the program on or before October 1, 2020. Legacy veterans are required to appeal using a different method and a different VA form.
My wife/caregiver and I had to wait a decade for the program eligibility requirements to include us. We applied when I was on my death bed. In July, 2020, I had been given a 4% chance to survive a service connected operation and then a 12% chance to survive the next ninety days. I was sent home after thirty days in ICU with 150 opiate pills and a hospital bed. I was told by pain management that I could have all of the opiate pain killer pills that I wanted. I was sent home to die.
Despite the above, I was admitted into the PCAFC caregiver program at the lowest level, level 1 benefits. There were three medical professionals (RNs) coming to my house three days every week. I had leg braces that I could not get on or off by myself and I had a colostomy that I could not even see, much less care for. I could barely raise my head off of a pillow. The CEAT team conceded that I needed help with five of the seven activities of daily living, but still refused to grant level 2 benefits. That arbitrary decision was not in accordance with PCAFC guidelines and contrary to the regulations governing the program.
I went through the appeal and deny, another appeal and deny, I requested recertification, appeal and deny, another appeal and deny. I took it up to the Board of Veterans Appeals. The BVA granted level 2 benefits using the exact same evidence that was used by the VHA to deny me, over and over so many times before.
The VHA social workers and, so called expert, CEAT teams, put me through so much hell for more than two years that I cringe to even think about it. Don’t ask me what I think about those people because there are just not enough words. I told them that they were wrong from the beginning, and in the end, I proved that fact at the Board.
Bad thing is, they are doing the exact same thing to hundreds if not thousands of other severely disabled veterans. The fiasco is, on its own, creating an unbelievable backlog at the BVA. You can go to the BVA search prior decisions website,
and type into the search box PCAFC caregiver to see for yourself. Please note that all of the cases have been remanded except my own case and only one more case. That other case was granted, only to be vacated and reversed three days later. The reason for vacating and reversing the decision was the fact that the caregiver did not complete the required caregiver training. That failure to complete the required training had been overlooked in the initial BVA decision.
All of those remands, and my case, being the first and only case granting level 2 benefits, so far at the BVA, is going to stuff that old hamster wheel so tight that it will cease to function. The cost to the taxpayer is going to be tremendous and unbearably ridiculous. Nobody is going to be held accountable for squandering VA resources. Nobody is going to get disciplined or fired. Nobody is going to miss a paycheck with the exception of THE DESERVING CAREGIVERS AND THEIR SERIOUSLY DISABLED HEROES.
I served in the US ARMY 1967-1970. I first entered into the claims process when I filed an agent orange exposure claim in November 2005. I filed the claim for ischemic heart disease as secondary to Diabetes type II. Heart disease had yet to be recognized as a presumptive of AO exposure at that time. The American Legion was chosen for my POA. I found no competent VSO who believed in my claim of agent orange exposure at a military post inside CONUS, much less a VSO who could, or would, assist me in my claim development and prosecution. In a BVA decision dated November 9th, 2009, I won the very first ever Agent Orange claim to be granted for AO exposure at a military instillation inside CONUS.
I researched, filed and prosecuted my own claims from the beginning, I advanced, a step at a time all of the way up to the award of SMC R-2, which was granted at the RO level, effective July 31, 2020. I also filed and prosecuted my own PCAFC caregiver claim through six appeals to finally obtain level 2 benefits for my caregiver in the first ever PCAFC case to be granted at the BVA.
Having achieved the SMC R-2 benefits on my own, and looking back, I found an error in a prior decision and needed to file a claim for an earlier effective date for the 2016 award of R-1. I filed for the EED using the legacy system. The case advanced up through the RO who denied the claim and on up to the BVA level where, it was once again denied. I knew that my contention was viable and I also knew that I was right, but the claim got really complicated really quick because its success relied upon a inferred claim theory. I needed to go to the Court.
I realized the fact that in order to be successful at the CAVC I needed an attorney. I engaged the services of the CCK law firm. We went to the CAVC where my attorneys successfully argued for a joint motion for remand (JMR). My attorney fees at the CAVC alone totaled north of $4700.00, but qualified for payment under the Equal Access to Justice Act.(EAJA). The case was then remanded back to the BVA by the Court for a new decision.
The case having been remanded back to the Board, I had an important decision to make. I could prosecute the claim myself, or I could retain the CCK law firm to see the claim through to the end. The attorney fee of 20% of any recovered retro pay would be due and payable upon a win. I chose to retain the law firm.
The case was further remanded by the BVA. It went back to the RO, the agency of original jurisdiction for a new C&P exam. CCK attorneys arranged and fronted the cost for a IMO in support of my claim. The cost of the IMO very reasonable at only $500.00. I was required to pay the $500.00 for the IMO, only if I won, whereupon the fee would come out of my retro.
My new IMO was ignored by the RO in it’s once again denied decision. My law firm filed for a higher level revue. In the HLR, the VLJ found an error in the VA’s duty to assist that had to be to be corrected. Because of the failure of the VA’s duty to assist error, the HLR was closed, and the case then was kicked up to a Supplemental Claim. The EED was finally granted in the supplemental claims process decision on October 17, 2022.
Generally, when an attorney is retained and a fee agreement is reached, a contract is drawn up and signed. If the fee agreement is approved by the VA, the attorney fees are withheld from any Retro payment to be then paid directly to the Attorney. In my case, for some unbeknown reason, the attorney fees were not withheld by the VA. The law firm contacted me after the decision letter was delivered and I did a wire transfer from my bank account directly into the attorney’s bank account for the total amount owed.
On 10/26/2022 I completed a wire transfer to my attorney’s bank account in the amount of $37,065.50. The break down was $36,565.50 for the attorney’s fee of 20% of my retro, plus a $500.00 fee for the IMO payment that was advanced by the law firm for payment to the doctor for the IMO.
Total cost of attorney representation was $4700.00 EAJA payment for representation before the Court. The post Court attorney’s fees at 20% of my retro equaled $36,565.50 plus $500.00 for the IMO. Total cost of representation in the case, $41,765.55 for the whole enchilada.
Was it worth it? Well lets just say that 20% of nothing is nothing and thank you CCK for a job well done.
Keep in mind that an attorney is allowed to charge 30% now days, and some, if not most, of the larger firms do.
Also know that your case has a place in line at the RO level, or a docket number at the Board. Hiring attorney cannot and will not speed up your decision one iota. One constellation, if there is one, is the fact that once you prevail at the Court your case, as required by law, will be advanced on the docket and given an expedited status for the remainder of the pendency of the claim.
The afore mentioned appeal originated when I filed a notice of disagreement for an EED of the grant of A&A at the R-1 rate back in 2011. It took more than five years to get a RO decision. Four more years were burned up to get a denied decision at the Board. Two more years of waiting from the Court JMR decision to a final granted decision at the RO as a supplemental claim. My granted decision is finally tucked in my belt and the money is in the bank.
Total time line of fighting for my benefits, 17 years. At this time the CCK law firm is looking the decision over to decide whether or not the full benefits were obtained, and whether to quit, or appeal.
My final rating 100% P&T + The maximum rating of SMC “O” to include A&A at the rate of R-2 + level 2 PCAFC caregiver benefits for my caretaker.
I can now state the fact that, no veteran of any branch of service, of any era, has ever been awarded a higher disability rating than I carry at this time.
When I filed my first claim in 2005 the DOD and the VA were very adamant that AO had never been used in CONUS, PERIOD!
In order to Substantiate my AO exposure claim I needed, first to prove that I was an MP Game Warden in 1967-1969. I needed to prove that the spraying and testing of agent orange, 24D-245T with Picloram, at Fort Gordon actually took place in 1967. Last, but most important of all, I had to show how I was directly involved and exposed, thirty eight years after the fact.
According to the VA my first denial was because I claimed that I was a Game Warden while stationed at Fort Gordon in the years 1967-1969, but the record only revealed the fact that I was a MP with a 95B20 MOS. The Army had no additional skill identifyer to substantiate that I preformed my duties as a Game Warden, and not those of an ordinary MP. At that point I realized that in order to prove my case, I needed to travel back to Fort Gordon. It was the decision to return to Fort Gordon that allowed me to come up with the air tight evidence in support of my case that I lacked.
At the BVA, I was able to furnish the judge with the spray aircraft tail number. I provided the name of the firm in Texas from which the Bell G-2 helicopter used in the spraying was leased, along with the pilot’s name. I proved the amounts, 450 gallons of orange alone, and the color names of herbicides that were used, orange, blue, and white. I furnished the exact location of the spraying and testing. I testified that the Bell G-2 had two twenty six foot spray booms attached. Each boom had six nozzles and each nozzle was set on three. They were making fifty foot swaths per sweep. Eighty six acres were involved.
It was necessary to travel to the Fort Gordon area, where I obtained and provided statements from the Fort Gordon Forester and the Fort Gordon Post Engineer, who were there and working with me during the time that I served and was involved. Both wrote sworn statements on VA forms 21-4138 stating that they remembered me by name as being the Fort Gordon Game Warden, and they swore in their written statements that it would have been my job to spray those herbicides. The Forester wrote that he had actually discovered my stash of herbicides and spray equipment in a building in the 1980s, just exactly where I said that they would be. He stated that he had actually cut the lock off of the building. I described the lock as being a railroad lock and he verified that it indeed was a railroad lock.
I also furnished a statement in support of my claim, written by the Fort Gordon Adjutant General, who had thirty five years experience in personnel and wrote the statement in support of my claim attesting to the fact that I indeed was the Fort Gordon Game Warden who served and was involved in the time period of 1967-1968, during the testing of AO.
My evidence had to be overwhelming and beyond doubt. Nothing was left to chance, and I covered all of my bases.
I furnished my Fort Gordon Game Warden badge number, my expired Richmond County GA. Deputy Sheriff credentials and my military drivers license. I presented a 1967 Fort Gordon phone book listing my office phone number and naming me as the Fort Gordon Game Warden.
The significance of producing my long ago expired Deputy Sheriff credentials was the fact that, as a military Game Warden, and in compliance with the “Posse Comitatus Act of 1878”, which removed the military from regular civil law enforcement, It was necessary that I be appointed as a Deputy Sheriff in order to have the authority to carry my weapon off post and to be able to stop and/or pursue civilians on and off post. Only MP Game Wardens carried such credentials.
The significance of the military drivers license, that expired many years ago, was the fact that only MP Game Wardens, and only MP Game Wardens, were issued a license to drive a Ford four wheel drive Bronco. Of note, there were only two Game Wardens at that time and fort Gordon only had two Ford Broncos, each of those was assigned to a Game warden.
The burial ceremony of my good friend, Army Captain Agness Bresnahan. We called her “Irish”. Her dad was a Congressman. Irish and I corresponded daily and worked feverishly together, trying desperately to prove agent orange exposure inside CONUS. Her exposure was at Fort McClellan Al, while my own exposure took place at Fort Gordon GA.
Irish died in june 2009, at her Washington hotel room from her agent orange illnesses the night before her hearing. Her claim died with her. I carried on and in November 2009, I won the very first AO exposure claim for exposure at a military post or base inside CONUS, just five months after her death. Irish’s last request was to be burried at Arlington Nnational Cemetery. I really wish that she would have won the first case, or at least lived to see me win it.
A novel, written by Kaylon Bruner Tran. (left) a promenent Vanderbilt professor/author presenting me, James M. Cripps (right) with an autographed copy of her 2021 novel containing the Conus agent orange win. (Book 2 of a three book series) “Agent Orange Trigogy”.
Kaylon Bruner Tranwas a guest speaker, attending the March 29th “Vietnam Welcome Home day” celebration in Springfield TN,.2023. After her presentation, I decided to buy the three volume novel that she had written. In conversation, she asked me if I had served in country, Vietnam. I said, “no, I am a Vietnam era veteran, but I did win the very first ever granted claim for agent orange exposure at a military instillation within CONUS”. She flipped to chapter sixty seven in the second volume of the series, pointed to the text, and said, “you are in my book”! She had never imagined meeting me in person, and I did not know of the existence of her novel collection.
I testified before the BVA Judge the fact that I defoliated around the Fort Gordon Controlled lakes and then often caught and ate fish from those lakes, within hours of the spraying operation. I furnished my wife’s and my original 1967 Fort Gordon Hunting and fishing license along with the documented set of orders as proof that I was on separate rations at the time to back up that statement.
Dr. George Dewey Dunn, The “Tennessee Valley Health Care Clinitian” at the Nashville Tn. VA Hospital made the connection when he preformed my Agent Orange Exam in 2005. He concluded that my disease of Chloracne was a “bio marker, a tell tell sign” of my Dioxin exposure. Dioxin is the contaminnant that is contained in agent orange. Dioxin is the deadliest substance known to man! Dioxin is man made, as it does not occur in nature.
Yesterday was Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day. I was privileged to attend the memorial ceremony at the Agent Orange Memorial in Springfield, TN. One of the special moments was meeting James Cripps. It was his lawsuit against the U.S. Veterans Administration that led to public awareness that Agent Orange had been used in the United States. He approached me at the memorial service because he wanted me to know his story. Mr. Cripps was surprised that I was already familiar with it and even more surprised to learn he is Chapter 67 in my second book “Lives Intertwined.”
The following was written by KL Bruner about March,2023.
Yesterday was Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day. I was privileged to attend the memorial ceremony at the Agent Orange Memorial in Springfield, TN. One of the special moments was meeting James Cripps. It was his lawsuit against the U.S. Veterans Administration that led to public awareness that Agent Orange had been used in the United States. He approached me at the memorial service because he wanted me to know his story. Mr. Cripps was surprised that I was already familiar with it and even more surprised to learn he is Chapter 67 in my second book “Lives Intertwined.”
The Orange Heart Wall of Honor in Springfield Tn. March 29, 2023
My name as carved on the Agent Orange wall.
My Richmond County Georgia deputy sheriff credentials. Ordinary MPs were not appointed as Deputy Sheriffs. Only Game Wardens carried those credential in order to be able to stop, search and arrest a civillian and to carry a weapon off of the military instillation.
I furnished a statement written for me by a Doctor who was involved in AO research and employed by the CDC in Atlanta GA in support of my exposure. I submitted a statement from the Georgia State Agriculture Director as to the name and chemical designation of the herbicide that I sprayed. That being 24D-245T.
My most overwhelming proof of AO exposure was the fact that I had Chloracne, first diagnosed on my ETS medical exam and there were many diagnosis post service including VA and civilian doctors. I had thirteen Medical opinions that concurred in the fact that the only cause of Chloracne is Dioxin exposure, Dioxin being the contaminant in AO and the other rainbow herbicides.
Arlington National Cemetary. All gave some, some gave all!
Following my AO grant in 2009 by the BVA, there have been many more claims filed, but few have prevailed.
I am still here! Be sure to select from the top menue, and read about my Fournier’s Gangrene experience that dammed near killed me!
The three book series written by Kaylon Bruner Tran.
100% loss of use of right and left lower extremities (previously evaluated as left foot peripheral neuropathy (sciatic nerve); left foot peripheral neuropathy (femoral nerve); and peripheral neuropathy of the right foot).
Service-connected disability? Yes
Effective date:12/27/2011
100% loss of use of right and left upper extremities (previously evaluated as peripheral neuropathy, right arm; carpal tunnel syndrome of the right upper extremity; and peripheral neuropathy, left arm).
Service-connected disability? Yes
Effective date:12/27/2011
20% chloracne, face, back, head, neck and chest with Fornier’s gangrene
Service-connected disability? Yes
Effective date:07/31/2020
30% mood disorder (also claimed as anxiety and depression)
Service connected disability? yes
Service-connected disability? Yes
Effective date:07/31/2020
0% erectile dysfunction and low sperm count (claimed as secondary to diabetes and Agent Orange exposure)
Service-connected disability? Yes
Effective date:10/28/2005
10% fungus feet and hands
Service-connected disability? Yes
Effective date:10/28/2005
20% diabetes mellitus, Type II
Service-connected disability? Yes
Effective date:10/28/2005
left eye injury
Service-connected disability? No
left ear injury with tinnitus
Service-connected disability? No
posttraumatic stress disorder
Service-connected disability? No
sleep disorder
Service-connected disability? No
tail bone injury
Service-connected disability? No
broken nose
Service-connected disability? No
left thumb injury secondary to liquid nicotine exposure
By far, I am not the expert. However, after going through the initial application process, including the exams and interviews for the PCAFC caregiver’s program, not once but twice, and after six Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA) appeals in the last twenty two months, I finally won level 2 benefits at the Board of Veteran’s Appeals (BVA) on June 22, 2020.
My lovley wife, Sandra, Heidelberg Germany 1969.
IM000222.JPG
I am now willing and able to share what I have learned about the caregiver’s program and how to defeat a VHA denied PCAFC decision, if you feel that you meet the eligibility requirements and you are denied, appeal. If you file a higher level revue (HLR), or a supplemental claim, those choices will send your appeal right back before the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) who have already denied you once. I would advise that instead of going with the seemingly easier routes, take your appeal to the BVA because the case will go to the Veterans Benefits Administration for adjudication, not back to the VHA. The BVA is where you will find justice.
Sandra Cripps, my loving wife of fifty four years, and my PCAFC caregiver.
I will restrain myself in the interest of professionalism on my comments herein, but make no mistake about it, the VHA put me, an R-2 veteran, through pure hell over that twenty two month period of appeals and never relented. I doubt that the VHA even knew what an R-2 veteran was. In their decision making process the VHA didn’t seem give a dam what the laws and regulations said, and they didn’t give a dam what the evidence said, they just arbitrarily denied the claim. The expert CEAT team in VISN 9 conceded that I needed help with five ADL’s as far back as February 2021, yet they still belligerently denied level 2 benefits without offering any explanation of reasons and basis for the obviously erroneous decision. The VISN 8 CEAT team, “after a compassionate and thorough review” of my medical records, along with my submitted evidence, denied my last VHA appeal in less than 24 hours after it was submitted to the VAMC Nashville Tn. Patient Advocate. Now if you buy into that crap, I have some ocean front property in Tennessee that I would just love to unload on you.
Through thick and thin!
As due to a recent court case, denied veterans and their caregivers can now ask the BVA to review denied PCAFC cases. The VHA never anticipated that one day the Board would be able to peer over their shoulder and review their work. I can only imagine the thoughts going through the BVA judges mind as he read the overwhelming evidence in my case, only to be denied six times by the VHA, so called, expert CEAT teams. As thousands of veterans and caregivers are appealing PCAFC decisions, can you imagine the backlog of PCAFC claims that is being created by the ineptness within the VHA. There will be thousands of cases, just waiting for review at the BVA.
My reason to live more of life
On the bright side, there has been a really good development of late in that the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee has finally heard the loud cries of the most disabled veterans on the planet. Senator Tester, the Chair of that committee, said that the caregiver program is the most gut wrenching thing that he has ever had to deal with in his fifteen year tenure.
Both the VBA and the VHA has admitted that my case is the first PCAFC case to be heard and granted level 2 benefits at the Board of Veteran’s Appeals.
Every dog has his day!
My 06/22/2022 BVA decisionCitation Nr: A22011682
Decision Date: 06/22/22 Archive Date: 06/22/22
DOCKET NO. 210903-192826
DATE: June 22, 2022
I began my VA claims saga in 2005. My first success was in November 2009, whereupon I was granted the very first claim for AO exposure at a military instillation in CONUS. That award was a 100% P&T plus an “S” award and 1 “K”. The award was for Diabetes due to AO exposure, ischemic heart disease claimed as secondary to the Diabetes, and Chloracne. In the subsequent years there have been numerus other claims and grants including three 100% P&T awards. I filed for, and won at 100% P&T, loss of use of right hand and right foot. In July 2020, Fournier’s Gangrene dammed near killed me and I won that one too, in short order. That Fournier’s Gangrene claim as secondary to chloracne, took forty five days, submission of the claim until grant. Severe anxiety and depression as due to my service connected general medical conditions claim only took thirty five days to grant. Fourteen scars, some rated as painful, were added to the mix, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator will always get you a 100% P&T, and so will class 3 kidney failure. Severe Neuropathy x four limbs adds up quick at 40% per limb and will get you the bilateral factor too.
In 2016 I was granted R-1 for A&A plus loss of use of two limbs with an effective date of November, 2016. I banked my retro, got my vehicle grant with adaptive equipment, and initiated my specially adaptive housing grant. Next I filled an appeal for an earlier effective date back to 2011 on the R-1 grant. As one would expect, he appeal was DENIED at the RO. I filed an appeal with the BVA. The BVA DENIED the claim. I then conferred with Alex Graham who was too booked up to take my case but instead hooked me up with the CCK law folks. We then took the case up to the CAVC. At the CAVC the case was granted a joint motion for remand (JMR) and the case was sent back to the Board and, in turn, was remanded back to the RO where it was once again, DENIED. Next a higher level revue (HLR) was filed and the result was that the Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) found a failure of the VA’s duty to assist. A C&P was ordered to rectify the error as to be compliant with the VA’s duty to assist order and the case was returned to the VLJ for a new decision.
On October 14th 2022, a new decision was rendered. I was granted five years earlier effective date of R-1 with five years retro.
In the interim, on August, 1, 2020 was granted SMC R-2. My final rating is R-2. Considering the fact that there is no VA rating higher than an R-2, and my back pay issue has been addressed by the Court and now meets my satisfaction, I am at the end of the line as far as VA claims are concerned. The only outstanding future issue is a hard earned burial flag and a small plot of ground in the Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery just west of Nashville.
P.S. I need to add that on June 22, 2022, I won the very first PCAFC case granted at the BVA. That grant by the Board was for PCAFC level 2 caregiver benefits for my caregiver.
Due to the passage of the Mission act, us older veterans of the Vietnam era are no longer fenced out of the benefits under the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. After a ten year wait, application for the program became available to us on October 1, 2020.
Ihe pier on Ford Island Hawaii where the Arizona was anchored.
My old mind being as it is now days, I forgot about the October 1st date and I managed to apply for the program on October 7th. There was no doubt in my mind that myself and my wife/caregiver would qualify, according to regulations, at the maximum top tier compensation rate of level 2.
Regulations stipulate that a mandatory decision would be forthcoming within ninety days. Well, you know the VA bureaucracy the way that goes. So, six months later we undergo the interviews as required to verify that we actually did qualify for the program. The interviews were conducted by social workers and an RN who works for the Veteran’s Health Administration, (VHA).
I contracted Fournier’s Gangrene as a result of my in service Agent Orange exposure and Chloracne disease. Fournier’s attacked me in July, 2020, after the VA prescribed the medication “JARDIANCE”, which is known to cause Fournier’s Gangrene, The resultant many surgeries and skin grafts devastated me. I was rendered helpless and my wife became my lifeline as she had to do everything for me. The VA surgeons had cut forty one pounds of flesh from my body. I had to be reconstructed from my knees to my navel. I found myself helpless and strapped with a catheter and a colotomy bag. About all that I was capable of was to bang on the wall when I needed assistance or to turn over. There were three nurses coming to the house every week along with a physical therapist and a occupational therapist. Those visits lasted more than one year.
The drops of fuel oil ascending from the sunken Arizona creating a never ending oil slick on the water at the surface.
If all of the foregoing was not enough, my defibrillator wires broke and came springing through my chest skin. All of that became infected. I underwent surgery to extract and replace the wires and unit. This time the unit was moved from my left chest to my right chest. I was instructed by the medical team to never again reach above my shoulders for fear of breaking the leads a second time. Not to wash or comb my hair. Not to wash my face, clean my ears or brush my teeth.
I was sent home with a hospital bed and one hundred and fifty opiate pain pills. I was told that I could reorder the opiates, all that I wanted. I was given a 12% chance to live another ninety days. I might have taken five of those opiates at the most. I did not want to become dependent on that stuff so I just sucked up the pain. The initial idea was to send me to a Veterans Home in Clarksville Tn., but COVID altered that plan. The next plan was to send me to a local nursing home. I begged to go home and the hospital staff relented and sent me home because of the rampant COVID situation in the nursing homes.
The Arizona memorial, Hawaii.
I was finally approved for the PCAFC program by the VHA at the minimum level 1 compensation rate. I immediately appealed for the maximum level two rate for which I knew that I was qualified for, but I was arboreally denied on a first and second appeal.
I asked the VHA to be recertified and that request was granted by the VHA but the result of the recertification was that I was to be continued at the minimum level 1 rate. I went through two more VHA appeals and was denied twice more. My evidence was overwhelming but the VHA would still not relent. No reason was ever given as the VHA is not required to give a reason or basis as to justify a decision.
Next I asked for a higher level review. That HLR was closed without a decision or explanation, just closed! As my last option I asked that the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) review the case. On June 22, 2022 the BVA granted my level 2 CPAFC benefits.
She looks so innocent in the picture!
The first six appeals were adjudicated by the Veteran’s Health Administration who are now known to have only granted access to the program to 12% of the applicants while denying 88%.
When my appeals were denied the VHA denied me, contrary to the laws and regulations as defined by Congress. The BVA is very adamant in following the laws and regulations thereby granting my claim for maximum benefits.
My question and dilemma is, If the CEAT teams who work for the VHA are so inept in their jobs, why does the VA still rely on and continue to pay those inept people to adjudicate PCAFC claims. On a side note, can you imagine the backlog of PCAFC claims that is being created at the Board?
Finally, the outcry has been so great as due to this kind of injustice by the VHA that it has caught the attention of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. Keeping in mind that this injustice is being committed against our nation’s most severely wounded and service disabled veterans, Senator Tester made the remark that it was the most gut wrenching thing that he had seen in his fifteen year tenure.
Sp5 James M. Cripps
100% P&T disabled veteran to include SMC “O” and A&A at the R-2 rate
VA THE REDNECK WAY, YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO IT ALONE! 