- Hi and welcome to Hill and Ponton's VA Disability Blog.
I'm Natalia Jofre, our firm's manager.
- And I'm attorney, Rachel Cheek.
And today we're gonna be talking about C and P exams, right?
Compensation and Pension.
And how it relates to PTSD.
- Absolutely. - So Rachel,
what do we need to know?
- Well, first thing's first.
When you are scheduled for a C and P exam,
you have to go to them.
You have to go. - That's important
for pension, yeah. - It really is,
it really is very important to know.
Because if you're scheduled for a C and P exam,
so let's use PTSD as an example,
say you filed a claim for service connection
and then you get notice that you're scheduled
for a C and P exam,
it's very important to go to that exam.
If you don't go, the VA can just
deny your claim all together.
- Wow. - Right.
- Which I know is a big deal
because a lot of our clients that do have PTSD,
they don't wanna leave the house,
they don't wanna interact with people,
they don't wanna fight the traffic,
so really going is that important.
- It's key.
I mean if you don't, again, if you don't go,
your whole claim can be tossed out and denied.
- Okay, what if they have a conflict?
I'm sorry. - No, it's a good question.
So you can reschedule if you need to.
So what happens is the VA will send you a notice
that you've been scheduled for an exam.
If you're going to be out of town that day
or have something that you can't attend
you are able to contact the VA and get rescheduled.
It's okay if you can't attend that date,
but you do need to get it rescheduled,
and you have to go to it.
- Right, and you maybe get one pass, right?
Like this isn't your regular doctors appointment
where you can put it off three and four times
before you actually go to it.
- You need to go.
- So let's say, worse case scenario,
you contact the VA, you're not able
to get in touch with anyone in time,
and you're like, well, it's down to this or
keeping my general practitioner's appointment tomorrow.
Really, the C and P exam.
- Absolutely, takes priority.
- Takes priority, okay, all right.
So once you actually, you go to the exam.
It's really important to, from the second
that the examiner starts asking you questions,
you need to be completely honest.
Especially with PTSD and other mental conditions,
it can be really difficult to be honest, to be open.
It is very, the what's going on can be very private.
There can be very personal issues and symptoms
that you might not wanna talk about
to someone who you just met, the examiner,
but it's really important you need to be fully honest,
because again, the C and P exam comes down to
whether you're gonna get service connection,
or if you're already service connected,
whether you're going to get the rating
that you're entitled to.
- Right, and I do think,
I know we mentioned this before
when we talked to Anne Lunstock
about how they examine,
how the exam, pardon me,
begins from the moment you walk through the door.
So this hi, how are you doing?
It's not just a formality.
They're actually asking you how are you doing.
- Exactly. - So if you come in
and you're like, I'm great, having a great day,
how are you doing?
That's not gonna go well because obviously
then you're talking about how you have this depression
and suicidal thoughts and everything
that your demeanor isn't representative of that
or your response isn't representative of that,
that's something that could
count against you, right? - Absolutely.
Now, I mean, if you are having a great day, be honest.
You don't wanna lie. - Exactly, no,
you don't wanna lie.
That's a very important, yes,
because they will pick up on that
and definitely annotate that as well.
Of course. - But generally yes,
you wanna be completely honest.
There is a, essentially like
a list of symptoms and questions
that the examiner will go through and ask you.
They are supposed to look at your file before they do this.
So they're supposed to have some background knowledge.
I'll be honest, a lot of these C and P exams
that I'm reviewing of our clients,
it's clear the examiners never looked at the file,
or maybe they did five minutes
before the veteran walked in the door.
So again, honesty's key.
They're not going to have access
maybe to all of your records.
They're not going to have access,
I should say they might not review all of your records
even if they have access.
- So from the veterans point of view,
they should not assume that the examiner knows anything.
- Exactly.
- I mean they should give descriptive explanations
or information.
They shouldn't just assume,
well, it's in my medical records.
- Precisely.
- Or even reference them because
haven't you encountered that issue where they're saying,
if they ask them a question you really
shouldn't respond with it's in my records.
- Correct. - Or read my records,
'cause they're probably not gonna do it, right?
- Sometimes, yes.
(laughing)
- It's the truth. - It is, unfortunately.
So, and again, with PTSD, any kind of mental condition,
it's not a physical condition where the doctor
can have you bend your knee and tell them when it hurts
or they can't see physically perhaps what's wrong with you.
It's internal, so it's another thing
where you need to be expressive
and really explain in detail what's going on.
A very common symptom of PTSD is suicidal ideation,
which can be very personal and tough to talk about.
But you have to with the examiner.
That's what you're there for.
You're there to let the examiner,
and therefore, the VA know, the severity of your condition
and exactly what's going on
so that they can rate it properly.
- Okay, perfect.
Well we're gonna talk some more about rating PTSD
in our next video.
For now, if you have any questions,
please feel free to visit our website,
or call our office and we'll see you next time.
- Thank you.
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