Kelley sends an update on Shreddergate

VA Shredder Gate plus:



Shredder Gate plus:



Received the following from several sources but cannot confirm the validity or the visit to the Regional Office in Chicago by Senators Durban and Obama.



This post is anonymous- not the right name- the VA employee is hoping that vets will respond to his plea:



I am sending you the same information that I recently called and relayed to a staff member of the Chicago Tribune. This Monday, October 27, 2008, Senator Durbin and Senator Akaka will visit the Chicago VBA Regional Office for an inspection. Recently, it has leaked to the public that some VBA employees across the nation have purposely thrown veterans' mail in the garbage. This is a problem because, in most instances, a veteran's claim for compensation may hinge on the missing article. I have come across veterans that have assured me that they sent in documents pertinent to their claim, only to be informed that the mail was never received.


Well, the two senators will be visiting the Chicago VBA RO on Monday. However, I am afraid that they will be unable to detect problems within this agency, as everyone has been ordered to behave in a manner that exudes professionalism and commitment to the veterans.

The Chicago VBA RO has for years been scrutinized by Sen. Obama and Sen. Durbin in an effort to determine why Illinois’ veterans receive minimal compensation for their injuries--when compared to other states. This is alarming because our state has quite a large veteran population. The workload has been a great problem for this office as they continue to struggle to reduce pending compensation claims. This is due to being short staffed, as well as having managers who received their promotions by being friendly with those in power.
Here is a brief breakdown of the organization:
Triage: 1st Stage

At this stage, this is where a veteran's initial and subsequent paper work comes into the agency. At a minimal, the mail received in Triage (the mail room) should be processed in about seven days and placed in the appropriate claims folder. However, this is not the case at this office. Mail sometimes stay in the mailroom for four to six weeks and, in some instances, are misfiled or lost.


Pre Development: 2nd Stage

At this point, veterans service representatives (VSR's) are tasked with examining the veteran's claims folder and sending appropriate notice to the veteran. For instance, they are supposed to ensure that a letter acknowledging receipt of the claim is mailed to the claimant. It usually takes months for this correspondence to be mailed, usually at the request of the veteran repeatedly contacting the office and pleading with it to send the material. The document is important because it is proof (receipt) that the claim was received and the veteran does not have to be concerned that the claim has been “lost” of “misprocessed.” This receipt is also relevant because it explains to the veteran what is needed to grant compensation, as well as inform the veteran to submit private treatment records or other evidence they may help to establish the claim.

A major problem at this stage, the VSR's sometimes fail to identify all the issues the veteran is seeking compensation. Therefore, some exams that should have been ordered or not, and when the veteran finally gets his or her award letter, the person discovers that he or she must contact the VA, once more, for proper and complete adjudication. Once, the exams have been complete and the required documentation collected, the VSR reviews the claims folder to determine if it is ready for a decision. If it is, the folder is transferred to the RVSR—the decision-maker and evaluator.
Rating Board: 3rd Stage

At this stage, the claims folder is brought to the RVSR for a decision. In theory, at this stage the case has been properly developed and awaiting a decision. However, 50% of the time (and I am being generous) the claim is not ready for a decision. For instance, the VSR (2nd stage) may have failed to examine the received medical examinations thoroughly to decide if all issues needing a medical opinion have been provided. Hence, claims folders are passed to RVSR's missing exams, service treatment records, and DD-214. The case is not ready for a decision and must be deferred for other examinations or other items, delaying the veteran’s claim.

In some instances, Triage (the mail room) fails to adequately process mail. For instance, a veteran may have submitted additional evidence showing compensation is warranted. However, if this information is not entered into the database and the mail placed in the claims folder on time, the veteran's claim may be denied—and I have witnessed this quite often.

Production standards are another problem at this office that are contributing to an employee’s mistakes. For one, a VSR must process a certain number of claims per day in order to meet his or her quota. Sometimes they are only half-heartedly reviewing the claims folder. In reality, they are tasked with examining the service medical records and identifying in-service disabilities and conditions, private medical records and tabbing relevant information that will assist the RVSR in rendering a decision. However, when there are four volumes of military medical records, a person cannot possibly examine them all and make his or her arbitrary quota for the day.

The RVSR is also under arbitrary production standards. He or she must receive a certain number of credits to meet an irrelevant quota. You have evaluators missing / ignoring issues that should have been granted. It is not that they want to shortchange the veteran; the system is not set up to allow an evaluator to properly assess the entirety of the claims folder, which can be as much as four to five volumes.



At this office, the sentiments are not "do a good job" so that veterans may receive the benefits the US promised. Instead, in all my years, it has always been let's process as many claims as possible to get the backlog down and, if we miss an issue, the veteran can always file another claim.

have worked at the Chicago VBA RO for over five years and am a veteran myself. If I was seeking compensation, I would want my claim handled appropriately and given the proper amount of time to render a fair and balance decision. Unfortunately, that does not always happen at this office.



There are some great employees in this office, and many go beyond the call of duty, often staying late to complete a claim. Nevertheless, management (at this office and those at the national office) continues to place unreasonable pressure on employees. When this occurs, it is no surprise that veterans are being harmed.

There have been recent reports that some psychologists and psychiatrists are refusing to diagnose PTSD when the finding is warranted, with some administrators instructing medical staff to make the veterans come back several times before giving away the golden goose. This is not the way we treat our veterans. They demand our deepest respect, sincere thanks, and an authentic pat on the back.

I am contacting the national media and local media in the Chicago land area, as well as veterans organizations with anticipation that Monday’s visitors will be greeted by genuine people concerned about veterans’ compensation.


Please help me spread this message to others who care about veterans. If you are not able to come out Monday call the director's office and voice your concerns.




On VA Watch dog at:



http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfoct08/nf102508-7.htm



You will find Congressman Filner’s statement: "This completely shatters confidence in the whole VA system.”



Hundreds of thousands of Veterans/Widows never had any confidence in this sham of a system including the BVA and the DC Appeals Management Center. In my opinion this system is so full of biased crap, collusion, and criminal activity against the United States Veteran and family it should be disbanded entirely. I know many have said save it and fix it. But there comes a time in any endeavor that it is just throwing good money and good well-intentioned efforts away. Changing the engrained VA philosophy on behalf of the Executive Branch would be a total waste of that time and money. This whole issue should be done by an entity not associated with the Federal Government and that can be held accountable for actions like are being reported in a court of law. Also for at least rendering common sense decisions instead of clerks needing medical records which they have no idea what they say or what the meaning is (just more BS) and on top of that just putting them in file 13, on purpose as if they never received them.



This is not about a “oops we slipped” but an ingrained policy by VA as we have said all along to deny, stall, and defile the Military Service of a Veteran until his or her death.



Example is also in that same link referenced above of how VA thinks these actions should be handled. Can anyone say these are not direct criminal actions with intent to do harm?



Here was VA’s response:



Alison Aikele, a VA spokeswoman in Washington, said a national ban on all shredding in benefits offices remains in effect. That ban will continue until the agency settles on a policy to guarantee key documents are not improperly destroyed.



So the VA person thinks this is just another policy directive that needs to be published. Not how many Veterans has this affected, how many lives has it ruined, how many widows and offspring were left in total distress because of government condoned criminal activity of not just improperly destroying documents but not using those documents in support of the veterans/widows case which seems to what VA is all about; not justice or fair and impartial decisions.



I cannot wait to hear what the Affairs Committees are going to do and that by the way is supposed to take place (not confirmed) on the 14th or the 17th. Everyone be standing by for that deal on his or her computers to listen in.



In fact, I cannot wait to see what the entire congress is going to do about VA and the fact they have caused more harm than the Veterans fought the Nations enemy’s. Now being caught in that act we will see any criminal charges levied and job firings. I doubt it. Promotions all around for VA employees they did exactly what they were trained and told to do. Screw the American Veteran.



Let the punishment of the innocent (Veterans/Widows) and exoneration of the guilty (VA, BVA, DC Appeals Management) begin or should as I say continue.



By the way the science studies are also included in that lack of integrity as recommended by several of the participating scientists. If integrity cannot be enforced then all studies involving Veterans should be done by an outside study/source not associated with the Federal Government. No I am not even considering IOM, they have not been as forth coming and transparent as they should be considering they are making legal decisions.



Kelley

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