I just spoke to my father in law. While looking through his VA medical records he came across a cat scan and the results. It stated that he needed immediate attention. This cat scan took place three years ago. Now they have found a mass in his lungs the size of a lemon. Is there any legal recourse that can be taken since the VA never informed him of the earlier cat scan? If he decides to live with me is there any way that he can apply for an adaptive housing grant to help him through this? Is there a fasttrak for the grant? I am 100% myself and applied for my own housing grant over a month ago and the VA still is waiting to verify my disability. Thanks ahead of time.
VA withheld information
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Jason Perry
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Sounds like there may well be a claim for medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice against the VA is going to be a tough battle but possible. They may try to claim a form of government immunity. Under the Tucker Act, you must file an SF-95, claim for damages, against the government enitity in question. The entitiy has, if I am not mistaken, 45 or 90 days to address the presented claim. If they fail to respond in this time, you may bring upon a suit for the medical malpractice against the VA within 6 months. You only have 6 months to file after the lapsed time or denial of claim. If the doctor is a contractor working for the VA, you may be able to file against the doctor individually if his contract does not provide protections afforded to VA doctors. The doctor may try to say that the patient never asked about the records which is a poor defense, but many doctor's have gotten away with this.
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Which goes to what I wrote above. Sounds like he has a medical malpractice claim.
Jason,
Apologies that this is a bit off topic.... however, I have been trying to get a hold of my sleep study. I never actually received it. The study was "sent" to the VA for evaluation, and even though the Armys DA 199 says "Sleep Apnea- but not disqualifying"... the VA says "NO EVIDENCE of disability." I can't seem to get a copy of it anywhere, and Nellis AFB wont give me a copy unless I go there in person, I live in California now. I never got a copy of it in my records either.
I am curious as to why all the shady practice here. I would like to take it to a neutral party and have the doctor reevaluate it, also perhaps get another sleep study done. I know I have sleep apnea, because my wife tapes me sleeping and you can hear me stop breathing.
Any advice would help. I can't seem to get a hold of any VFW or American Legion rep to help out either.
Thanks.
Apologies that this is a bit off topic.... however, I have been trying to get a hold of my sleep study. I never actually received it. The study was "sent" to the VA for evaluation, and even though the Armys DA 199 says "Sleep Apnea- but not disqualifying"... the VA says "NO EVIDENCE of disability." I can't seem to get a copy of it anywhere, and Nellis AFB wont give me a copy unless I go there in person, I live in California now. I never got a copy of it in my records either.
I am curious as to why all the shady practice here. I would like to take it to a neutral party and have the doctor reevaluate it, also perhaps get another sleep study done. I know I have sleep apnea, because my wife tapes me sleeping and you can hear me stop breathing.
Any advice would help. I can't seem to get a hold of any VFW or American Legion rep to help out either.
Thanks.
In my case dealing with Ft. Jackson, I had to go through the National Archives to press them. Go to archives.gov and fill the SF 180 requesting all medical files. If it was put in a medical record ANYWHERE they will be able to pull it. If you have a date and facility, it will cut your wait time down once requested. These requests can take anywhere from 60-180 days to process.