In February, 2017, my husband had a video conference with a Decision Review Officer out of Huntington, West Virginia regarding his appeal.
He's seeking to overturn a Raynaud's denial, and increase his Fibro rating.
We have a Nexus letter supporting both, and his C&P clearly states the Raynauds is related to the fibro, and "was more likely than not, related to his service in the Gulf War."
He was "represented" by his appointed VA rep, who is the only choice for our area. The rep showed up with an empty file folder with my husband's name on it. I'm a paralegal by trade, so I had two, 5-inch binders of records that were tabbed and indexed - needless to say, we felt poorly represented, but fortunately we were prepared.
The DRO that was to hear the case was out sick. The hearing was 2 hours late in starting.
At one point during the hearing, the officer asked my husband "what it would take as far as compensation to make him happy"... naturally he was caught off guard and said he wasn't prepared to put a $$ sign on his disability.
Is that type of question normally asked during hearings?
She also indicated she might "require" him to do another C&P exam. I inquired as to why he would need another C&P, and she really didn't have a solid answer.
Can they require another C&P? Especially if a prior C&P supported his claim?
The hearing was bizarre in my opinion - so I wanted to get the transcripts (written, and the recording). We sent the proper FOIA forms in, return receipt of course, and they were received by the VA in May of 2017. A copy of our request is showing in my husband's file, but we've received nothing.
Does anyone have experience with requesting transcripts? Should we have received them by now (6months since requested)?
We've obviously heard nothing about my husbands appeal, and the only thing the rep has told us is "the Huntington office has put aside all regular disability claims and appeals to focus their attention on those vets that have elected to use RAMP."
We have elected to not use RAMP.
We're considering an attorney at this point, but I'm not sure what, if anything, they could do considering where we are in the process.
Any suggestions, and guidance would be greatly appreciated!
