(tranquil electronic music)
- Hello and welcome to the Hill & Ponton
Veteran's Video Blog.
I'm Matthew Hill. - [Carol] I'm Carol Ponton.
- [Matthew] And today we'd like to talk to you
about C&P exams, more specifically how you as a veteran
should prepare for 'em.
When you get a notice in the mail for a C&P exam,
it's important to understand what it's for.
Unfortunately, a lot of times they don't send you
that information.
- But if you call, if you call the number,
they will tell you exactly what it's for,
and you should do that.
- Exactly.
- That's a number on the notice
that you got for the exam.
- And the exams,
they should be to what you're asking for,
what kind of compensation, if it's the first claim
to say that something's related to service
like a back claim, saying "I believe that my back
"was injured in service, and that's why I currently
"have this disability."
The question isn't really so much the extent
of this disability now.
The question is whether it's related or not.
But most of the C&P exams we see are for the rating
to say is this the proper rating.
And so the veteran goes, and as Carol said,
hopefully they've called to see what kind it is.
But we feel like there's more than just calling
that should take place.
- You need to know how the VA rates people.
So what's the point of the exam?
What are they looking for?
And for instance, backs, if you have horrible,
limiting back pain, you wouldn't think that your entire
rating is based on how far you can bend before the pain
stops you, but that's it.
And so a lot of people go in, and they're talking
about the pain and how it just devastates them,
et cetera, et cetera, but they bend too far,
and they get a zero or a 10%.
So you need to know what the VA is looking for.
That's just backs.
They actually have what's called DBQs, and those are sort
of a guide, an outline that the C&P examiners use
when they're figuring out
how to evaluate you for your C&P exam.
- Yeah DBQ is Disability
Benefits Questionnaire, - [Carol] Benefits.
- [Matthew] and what I will do is link to that
into the blog notes on this, but essentially
it is exactly how they rate you.
There's a bunch of boxes that the examiner can check,
and it's important that you actually have an opportunity
to look over that before you go just so you can look
and say, "Well what of these applies to you?"
Clearly all of it will not apply to you, and there might be
some that do apply that you just don't know
'cause it's a medical term, but the more knowledge you have
before going in, the better.
- Let's go to the back again.
You know, the back usually most people can't get more
than a 40% rating for your back.
Unless your back is fixed in one place,
so it really doesn't move, that's all you're gonna get.
But where you get the additional ratings is in the problems
that the back causes.
For instance, how about radiculopathy, where you have
that pain, that electrical feeling that goes down your leg,
or you have numbness in your feet.
What if you become incontinent?
All of these things relate to the back.
But if you don't bring them up, don't wait for them
to mention them.
It's important that you bring this out.
- And that's a really good point.
This isn't like a treating doctor's visit.
When they ask you how you're doing, you don't say,
"Oh, I'm okay."
Or "I'm doing well today."
That's gonna be written down
and unfortunately used against you.
When you go in there, you need to be ready to offer
as much details as possible.
As Carol said, you don't wait for the question.
You say, "Oh and we didn't talk about this,
"my incontinence related to my back" or whatever it is.
You need to go in.
- The fact that I fall because my legs give way.
The electrical shock is very strong,
and it really impairs me.
- And so it's just things you need
to be aware of going in there.
Now a couple other things with C&P exams,
we always recommend that they take somebody with them.
A lot of times our veterans will ask if we,
as their attorneys can go,
and that would just be a nightmare.
The VA
would throw us out of the building.
So we ask the veterans to take a spouse, take a good friend,
and just to be there to watch.
Wives are the best because they'll, when a veteran will say,
"My pain's at a six."
And the wife will say, "You haven't gotten out of bed
"in eight days."
And make sure that the truth is known.
Also they're there to make sure that if something doesn't go
as it should at the exam, there's sets of eyes to talk
to that, instead of just the veteran.
A lot of times, unfortunately, we see that the VA won't even
allow the buddy or the wife into the exam room.
Still thinks it's important to go.
- To be able to say he was only in there five minutes.
And remember the reason that supposedly you can't bring
somebody in is the privacy.
Well it's your privacy, and you have the right to waive it.
But let me tell you what I saw
in a Board of Veterans' Appeal decision the other day
that was really disheartening.
This client had gone to the C&P exam, spent five minutes,
did not do any of the measuring about how far
they could bend, et cetera, and wrote a 4138 where he swore
to what happened.
He did that.
His wife said how little time they spent with him.
The BVA totally disregarded that.
They said that we're going to consider the regularity
that this doctor would have done exactly
what he needed to do, and it didn't happen that way.
But that really hurt the veteran's case.
So the more information that you can give to the VA
about what happening, and if you feel that the exam
wasn't fair, tell the medical facility there.
They need to know.
They're paying these doctors.
They need to know did this doctor really evaluate you
'cause that's where you can get a change.
- So just to wrap up, just remember that when you go
to these exams, it's not a friendly affair.
You need to come prepared with information
about how your pain and how your problem is affecting you.
You need to try to understand how they're gonna rate that.
And if you can bring people with you,
that's the way to go.
So thank you again for listening.
And this is all for this point
for the Hill & Ponton Veterans' Video Blog.
Thank you. - [Carol] Bye.