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Q727: Has there been any case law where VA addressed prior cases; where they disregarded comp & pension examiners opinions; From before they had to take a doctors word, over substitution of their own opinion?
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A1: The VA has to have some solid evidence to decide a claim and that is usually medical evidence via a C&P exam. VA uses mostly contract examiners now. A lot of those examiners are not doctors. Those contractors like to use nurse practioners. When the veteran does not get a favorable C&P exam that doesn't end up getting them service connected, I recommend they get a qualified doctor to complete the DBQ. They are back on VA's website. Case in point: the nurse practioner gave an unfavorable opinion on the veteran's orthopedic injury. He got an orthopedic doctor to complete a nexus letter and the specialist trumped the nurse practioner's opinion. (DS) 6/9/21
A2: I don't know of any case laws, but I can talk for myself. I was turned down on the ringing in both ears a couple of times. I went to a private doctor who had a lab to test your ears. He told me the ringing was from when I was in Vietnam as I stated. He wrote he's report on this and in a couple months I got 4 years back pay. So, yes going to a private doctor carries more weight than any VA doctor or VA testing. Whatever your issue is find a good doctor who knows about it. He has to be in that field or it will be knocked down and you are back at square one. I hope this answers your question. The main thing is to NEVER GIVE UP. I did this for PTSD until I hired a lawyer and got bumped from 50% to 70% unemployment and paid at 100% Permanent and Total. (RI) 6/10/21