R i g h t a r d i a: 1/1/16

Thursday, January 14, 2016

The importance of VA secondary condtions.

When a Veteran files the initial claims with the Veteran Administration, he usually files for a primary medical condition. Besides filing the online VONAPP (www.ebenefits.va.gov)or the VA Form 21-52.

The evidentiary requirement are rigid and Rightardia has recommended using the Disability Benefits Questionnaires (DBQ) to make sure all the "T" are crossed and the "I's are dotted.

It is important that the doctors check the box indicating the Service Medical Records (SMR) have been reviewed. A nexus statement connecting the military service to the medical condition must also be written in the remarks.

In the example below, a serviceman loses his pituitary by being exposed to radiation or chemicals in an industrial environment. Hypopituitraims is the primary condition, but the vet could also lose adrenal, thyroid and sexual function. Hypopituitarism cal also cause anosmia (loss of sense of smell ) and diabetes insipidus. All of the latter are secondary conditions.

Many Army solders were exposed to agent orange in Vietnam which led to many cancers and heart conditions. For example a veteran could revive an award for non-Hodgins lymphoma. With chemo-therapy, the vet might survive. But there are a lot of residuals or secondary conditions associated with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

If the vet develops any of these conditions, they should file for a secondary condition. Filing for a secondary condtion has some big advantages.

38 CFR § 3.310 says:

"When service connection is thus established for a secondary condition, the secondary condition shall be considered a part of the original condition."

This means the effective date of the secondary condition is given the date of the primary condition. In addition, the doctors does not need to review the SMRs or write a nexus statement. The doctor must indicate the secondary condition is a consequence of, and linked to the primary condition.

The vet may use a DBQ to document a secondary condition. Some DBQs are written to identify secondary conditions, other are not. A doctor's letter my suffice for a secondary condition. The letter should show:

A diagnosis for a compensable condition
A link between the secondary condition and an already service connected condition

You may think the primary condition would have a higher disability rating that secondary, but it is usually the other was y around. In fact the 38 CFR makes it clear that secondary condition may have a higher disabiliy rating than the primary.

sources:

http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/VBA-21-526-ARE.pdf
http://www.benefits.va.gov/COMPENSATION/dbq_ListByDBQFormName.asp
http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/n/non_hodgkins_lymphoma/complic.htm#complication_list
http://vets.yuku.com/topic/12131

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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Old time religion and politics have been a disaster for the GOP

The struggle between organized region and non-affiliated has been around since the nations was founded. Benjamin Franklin, Ethan Allen, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson James Madison, and Thomas Paine were all deists.

Deism the belief in a deity based on natural religion only, or belief in religious truths discovered by people through a process of reasoning, independent of any revelation through scripture or prophets.

Deism can be contrasted with theism, Most theists ascribe to organized religion. “Organized religion is typically characterized by an official doctrine (or dogma), a hierarchical or bureaucratic leadership structure, and a codification of rules and practices.”

The term theism was first used by Ralph Cudworth (1617–88). In Cudworth's definition, 'Theists, are those who affirm, that a perfectly conscious understanding being, or mind, existing of itself from eternity, was the cause of all other things".

Most modern western religious such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam are monotheistic. Almost all have official doctrine, bureaucratic leadership, and a codification of rules and practices often described as rituals.

Most of the early religions were integrated with and extensions of the state. This may explain why many religions have developed an authoritarian streak,

Barry Goldwater said this in 1981:

There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?

Goldwater further warned about Christan fundamentalists and Evangelicals taking over the GOP:

If they succeed in establishing religion as a basic Republican Party tenet," he told US. News & World Report in 1994, "they could do us in." In an interview with The Post that same year, Goldwater observed, "When you say 'radical right' today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.

So here we are in 2016. In 2012, we had Republican Mitt Romney running for president. Romney believed he was the chosen one in the White Horse prophesy. The prophecy predicts that the United States Constitution will one day "hang like a thread" and will be saved "by the efforts of the (man on a) White Horse. " Mormons have anticipated. the United States to eventually become a theocracy dominated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

When Romney was running we also had Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum trying to build their presidential aspirations on church altars. too. Newt Gingrich was another religious Catholic zealot

The worst by far is Ted Cruz who hold Dominionist beliefs. Ted would like to be the emperor of the first American theocracy.

The authoritarianism in the GOP can be explained to a certian extent by the a party riddled with religion.

The Republican reaction of the GOP to Obama may also have a religious basis in that many fundamentalists think Africans a have the mark of Cain on them. However, most anthropologists know that the human species developed in Africa. The first humans were dark skinned.

So how does the Democratic party work with Republicans who are religious zealots and ideologues with “my way of the highway” attitudes?

Would guess Obama is doing the best he can under the circumstances. You have to work under and around such people and work to marginalize them in the next election. On occasion, give them enough rope to hang themselves which is what happened to the the GOP when it closed down the Federal government.

You simply cannot negotiate with a “disloyal opposition” in good faith.

It's time for Democrats to put the hammer down and to storm the election booths in 2016. If we make an extended efforts, we can take the Presidency, the Senate and perhaps even the House!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deists

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_religion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Horse_Prophecy

http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/the-top-12-newt-gingrich-quotes/

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