Daughter Army reserve 04-E 12 good years - recently diagnosed with nonepileptic seizure disorder

C

clfdpops1

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
Hi,

I've never used one of these chatrooms before, so bear with me.

My daughter is a disabled veteran that the VA rated at 80% service-connected (2018 rating increased from 0% to 50% for migraines). She has between 12-14 good years. June 2019 she woke up with sudden onset of stroke-like symptoms; August 2019 had sudden onset of seizures during VA referred PT. She never had either previously. Since then has had over 100 more. Final diagnosis by team of Neurologists at VA Medical Center was "nonepileptic seizure disorder." We are convinced these stem from remote TBI as she has always had a constant migraine with peaks 4-5 times per week. Possibly PTSD could be a factor. She was overdosed by Army medical personnel while in Iraq to the point of becoming nonresponsive and it was 10-minutes before she resumed spontaneous respiration....has had issues with right side of her body since including right eye vision, right ear hearing loss, right side weakness. Despite this, the Army reserves took her (at the time she was rated at 60% by VA). She is highly educated and has been very successful working for a large corporation as a program manager for over 6 years.

We've been fighting the VA for 9 years now and case is before a VA Appeals Judge and in my opinion based on existing service connected injuries alone should have been at 100% years ago. Now, disabilities have been compounded by the sudden onset of the stroke-like symptoms and nonepileptic seizure.

If she goes to MEB will she be able to get either the PDRP with Tricare benefits for herself and her dependent children?
 
I am really sorry to hear about your daughter. That sounds like quite the ordeal to go through. There are a lot of people that watch these boards so I am sure we can get you pointed in the right direction. Can you answer a few questions for me?

- Did she separate the service on her own or did she have a medical separation?
- It sounds like she used to be on active duty then crossed over to the reserves. How long was she on active duty?
- Does her military medical records describe the injuries and conditions you stated above from Iraq?
- Is she still in the reserves?
- If she is, has she been through the Initial Review In Lieu of Discharge (IRILO) process?

If you don't have a lawyer yet, please get one ASAP. The owner of this website is damn good at his job and will help you. www.peblawyer.com or 1-800-576-5648
It sounds like your daughter has multiple service connected issues that should have qualified her for a disability retirement. Hopefully she is still in the reserves in some way shape or form because it is difficult to change once you separate.
 
It is wonderful that you are helping your daughter. It sounds like she needs some help. I agree with getting an attorney. AD injuries/illness is mostly straightforward. Reservist are more complex. peblawyer.com
 
Not sure about the rank posted,there is no such rank as O4E. There is O3E and then there is O4.
 
You also mention 12-14 “good years”. Was she on active duty when these events occurred? Or was she in a reserve status? If reserve, she will need a Line Of Duty (LOD) investigation in order to document and prove what happened. Without an LOD, her case is an uphill battle. Either way, she needs a good lawyer at this point.
 
Guardguy11 said:
I am really sorry to hear about your daughter. That sounds like quite the ordeal to go through. There are a lot of people that watch these boards so I am sure we can get you pointed in the right direction. Can you answer a few questions for me?

- Did she separate the service on her own or did she have a medical separation?
- It sounds like she used to be on active duty then crossed over to the reserves. How long was she on active duty?
- Does her military medical records describe the injuries and conditions you stated above from Iraq?
- Is she still in the reserves?
- If she is, has she been through the Initial Review In Lieu of Discharge (IRILO) process?

If you don't have a lawyer yet, please get one ASAP. The owner of this website is damn good at his job and will help you. www.peblawyer.com or 1-800-576-5648
It sounds like your daughter has multiple service connected issues that should have qualified her for a disability retirement. Hopefully she is still in the reserves in some way shape or form because it is difficult to change once you separate.
Click to expand...

Have to correct one thing; she is a 0-3 NOT 0-4
Her injuries mainly the drug overdosing by Army medical personnel in Iraq led to her being medically evacuated to BAMC. The irony of this is that her normal PCM noted as she was reviewing my daughters medical efile that stated the nonresponsive state, CPR, noting time between non-responsiveness to spontaneous respiration resumed was a full 10-minutes. Evidently she stepped out of the efile briefly (daughter says PCM went back in about 3-minutes later only to find that statement deleted and replaced with one that failed to mention staff ignored drug interaction warnings, non-responsiveness, and CPR being performed. Fortunately, her good PCM had the medical flow sheet that listed all drugs, dosages, time administered, time she became non-responsive,...etc. Been fighting VA ever since. In answer to your questions:
She was offered medical separation or retirement and chose not to. She is 5th generation military. At the time she was in the Texas Army National Guard and deployed to Iraq. I think her active duty time was about 2-years. I know she did a one-year stint at the National Guard Headquarters as a 2LT. After choosing to remain in the Army National Guard she did the normal thing, albeit had medical issues since. VA initially gave her temporary 100% disability rating, then reduced it to 60% or less.....they have always refused to dismiss the efile records...should have had an invesigation, but never did. I've been to two senators offices....nothing happened. Submitted over 200-pages for appeal, case supposedly before Judge this year. She was Army National Guard, after a few years, due to medical issues related to her
 
tony2d2 forgot to thank you for your quick response. Appreciate any assistance you and anyone else could give. Let me know what you think after reviewing my last response and questions.
 
Your defiantly going to need a lawyer that knows the system and be ready to fight this both on the VA and DOD sides
 
Tony292 yeah my mistake. She is an 0-3 guess who was just shy of having the mandatory time to be considered prior enlisted. Most her injuries (ALL the injuries rated as service-connected gives her total of 80% - she was rated at only 0% for migraines until 2016 when they upgraded her to 50% for those even though she never had migraines until the overdosing incident!) With the VA math of diminishing value/returns even though she is rated at 120% doing simple math the way they calculate it makes it almost impossible to get to 100%, unless the 1st and 2nd disability ratings are 70% and 60% or higher respectively. Cause the way it's calculated the largest percentage is rated first so the veteran is given the face value of that, eg, in my daughters case, her initial largest disability was rated at 40%, and the remaining 60% is now reduced by the 2nd disability by it's percentage, in my daughter's case 30%....so it would be 30% of that remaining 60%.....and continues to get less and less for each subsequent rating. I don't think the VA switched the ratings like the regulation says they are supposed to when they upgraded her migraine rating from 0% to 50% that should have bumped the initial 40% to second place and then recalculate the remaining disability ratings. In any event we are still fighting the VA to get her ratings increased to 100% and have appealed the case. About 2 months ago, my daughter recently received a letter saying it is being reviewed by the VSO (VFW) to prepare for the defense, and the VA Judge is waiting on the VFW's review.... She joined up with the Army Reserves 2-3 years ago and really wants to finish out a career with them. However, as you know she has to be able to pass the Army Annual Fitness Test and with the sudden onset of the seizures don't know if she can pass...right now the answer is no. This was why I was asking the questions about getting medically retired after the MEB review and being abled to get her full military retirement based on the formula calculating her retirement pay as long as the MEB rates her over 30%. Have been considering seeking out an attorney to fight on her behalf, but have had several bad attorneys so have difficulty trusting them. The other question pertaining to seeking out an attorney, wouldn't it be to late at this point? I was thinking of adopting a "wait and see" approach via the VA Judge then fight from there, if needed. Would that be to late? The VFW gent helped her file for a temporary 100% rating due to her sudden onset of seizures, but don't know about the success of that, because we tied it to migraines which by law cannot go higher than 50% which she has now. I asked the contracted doctor who was doing her evaluation (who witnessed a seizure during his exam) if he could list it as a secondary to migraines. His answer was that he was contracted to answer the DBQ's, but did say he would add a note that he had witnessed a seizure during his evaluation. Anyone's thoughts on my questions will be greatly appreciated. Concerned Dad
 
tony292 said:
You also mention 12-14 “good years”. Was she on active duty when these events occurred? Or was she in a reserve status? If reserve, she will need a Line Of Duty (LOD) investigation in order to document and prove what happened. Without an LOD, her case is an uphill battle. Either way, she needs a good lawyer at this point.
Click to expand...
 
tony292 said:
You also mention 12-14 “good years”. Was she on active duty when these events occurred? Or was she in a reserve status? If reserve, she will need a Line Of Duty (LOD) investigation in order to document and prove what happened. Without an LOD, her case is an uphill battle. Either way, she needs a good lawyer at this point.
Click to expand...
Tony292 yeah my mistake. She is an 0-3 guess who was just shy of having the mandatory time to be considered prior enlisted. Most her injuries (ALL the injuries rated as service-connected gives her total of 80% - she was rated at only 0% for migraines until 2016 when they upgraded her to 50% for those even though she never had migraines until the overdosing incident!) With the VA math of diminishing value/returns even though she is rated at 120% doing simple math the way they calculate it makes it almost impossible to get to 100%, unless the 1st and 2nd disability ratings are 70% and 60% or higher respectively. Cause the way it's calculated the largest percentage is rated first so the veteran is given the face value of that, eg, in my daughters case, her initial largest disability was rated at 40%, and the remaining 60% is now reduced by the 2nd disability by it's percentage, in my daughter's case 30%....so it would be 30% of that remaining 60%.....and continues to get less and less for each subsequent rating. I don't think the VA switched the ratings like the regulation says they are supposed to when they upgraded her migraine rating from 0% to 50% that should have bumped the initial 40% to second place and then recalculate the remaining disability ratings. In any event we are still fighting the VA to get her ratings increased to 100% and have appealed the case. About 2 months ago, my daughter recently received a letter saying it is being reviewed by the VSO (VFW) to prepare for the defense, and the VA Judge is waiting on the VFW's review.... She joined up with the Army Reserves 2-3 years ago and really wants to finish out a career with them. However, as you know she has to be able to pass the Army Annual Fitness Test and with the sudden onset of the seizures don't know if she can pass...right now the answer is no. This was why I was asking the questions about getting medically retired after the MEB review and being abled to get her full military retirement based on the formula calculating her retirement pay as long as the MEB rates her over 30%. Have been considering seeking out an attorney to fight on her behalf, but have had several bad attorneys so have difficulty trusting them. The other question pertaining to seeking out an attorney, wouldn't it be to late at this point? I was thinking of adopting a "wait and see" approach via the VA Judge then fight from there, if needed. Would that be to late? The VFW gent helped her file for a temporary 100% rating due to her sudden onset of seizures, but don't know about the success of that, because we tied it to migraines which by law cannot go higher than 50% which she has now. I asked the contracted doctor who was doing her evaluation (who witnessed a seizure during his exam) if he could list it as a secondary to migraines. His answer was that he was contracted to answer the DBQ's, but did say he would add a note that he had witnessed a seizure during his evaluation. Anyone's thoughts on my questions will be greatly appreciated. Concerned Dad
 
Read in over this, it sound like she has seizures with out a defined nexus to tie it to service for connection and MEB. The records that you believe will help generate the nexus have also disappeared.


This is where a good Independent Medical Opinion/Your Own Doctor filling out the DBQ and Lawyer will come in to play.
 
I don't know if you have seen this, this is relating the seizures to TBI witch may be the better rout to go than migraines


Also here is excerpt from the CFR relating to Seizures

General Rating Formula for Major and Minor Epileptic Seizures:



Averaging at least 1 major seizure per month over the last year..................... 100

Averaging at least 1 major seizure in 3 months over the last year;

or more than 10 minor seizures weekly........................................................ 80

Averaging at least 1 major seizure in 4 months over the last year;

or 9-10 minor seizures per week.................................................................. 60

At least 1 major seizure in the last 6 months or 2 in the last year;

or averaging at least 5 to 8 minor seizures weekly....................................... 40

At least 1 major seizure in the last 2 years; or at least 2 minor seizures

in the last 6 months....................................................................................... 20

A confirmed diagnosis of epilepsy with a history of seizures ........................... 10
 
RaiderX and Tony292 appreciate your responses. Yeah, I read that as well. She was AGR at the National Guard Headquarters Title 10 then switched to then switched to Title 32 when she went Officer Basic Core. Combined time over a year at that point. Service connected injuries while there, then AGR again when she went to Iraq, where she had several service connected injuries. RaiderX I've looked at athe seizure ratings as well, the main concern is that they are tied to epilepsy and she has "nonepileptic seizures." What I've been told by the VSO VFW gent is that the VA will try to make it fit somehow into "seizures." Understand that the "migraines" is not the place to stick it, but we already had an appointment for the contract C&P doc so VFW rep said go to it and ask the doc if he would make a note of it in his report. If that fails, we will input another claim for seizures. We already are hoping she will get raised up to 100% based on her current service-connected issues....at Appeal is at VFW in review before going to Judge for judgement this calendar year I'm told by VFW.....we'll see.
 
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