IDES timeline reasonable, Factor V Leiden

CarlB

PEB Forum Regular Member
PEB Forum Veteran
So I've been in the MEB process for slightly over 1 year and have yet to complete my NARSUM. I'm located in Montery, CA at the Defense Language Institute and have to use Madigan Army Medical Center for my medical service needs.

Mar 2009 - DVT after overseas flight to Korea, placed on coumadin for 6 mos. Treatment considered successful and removed from coumadin.
...
JAN 2011 - Pulmonary Embolism, hospitalized for 1 week. Diagnosed with Factor V Leiden and placed on life-long coumadin and told that I would be undergoing the MEB process. Also given a non-deployable profile.
JUN 2011 - TDY to Madigan for Army Evaluation
AUG 2011 - TDY to Tacoma for VA contracted evaluation
OCT 24 2011 - Narsum dictation done over phone with PA @ MAMC.
NOV 24 2011 - checked back with PEBLO and told NARSUM not done yet
DEC 15 2011 - checked back with PEBLO and told NARSUM "should be done soon"
JAN 04 2012 - emailed PEBLO again for NARSUM status. AKO shows no updates to speak and no one else seems to be able to tell me anything.

I'm prepared for this process to take a long time, but the timeline goals for the NARSUM portion are only supposed to be 15 days. 2 1/2 months have gone by since this has been started and I'm getting frustrated. Once I'm done with the NARSUM, I understand that I will be counseled and that my case gets referred to the actual PEB for a Fit/Unfit determination. Does anyone have any idea if I'm overreacting or is this fairly unreasonable?

I enjoy my work here in Monterey, but I would really like to know when and how I will be transitioning so I can begin setting up things to take care of my dependants.

As an aside, I've searched through the forums for other people who have been diagnosed with Factor V Leiden, and it seems like everyone has been found unfit for duty. Has anyone been awarded a disability rating higher than 30%?

The clotting disorder is not properly represented in the VA Schedule, but there are entries for blood clots that are graded based on the severity of the edema (not really appropriate to my case) and a separate entry for chronic pulmonary embolism requiring continual anti-coagulant therapy.

The second entry seems to fit my case better and awards a 60% rating, but if they go with the first case then I'm looking at possibly severance pay. Any input from others who have gone through similar rulings would be much appreciated.

Carl B
Monterey, CA
 
With dealing with Madigan, you have to keep on them. My NARSUM also took months to complete. My Primary Neurosurgeon deployed and no one wanted to handle anything while he was gone. I would give the DOC that is supposed to write the NARSUM a call and ask status. Worst he can tell you is "I don't know". Also, if you are Navy, have you spoken to the Navy Liason? I know that I had to go through him to get ANYTHING from Madigan. Another option is calling the Regional JAG for PEB cases. I know that the one here (Whidbey Island, WA) just transferred and until the new one gets here, we are supposed to use the ones in San Diego. You can send me a private message if you don't have any of contact info and I will forward it to you. Hope this helps and good luck!

Susan
 
Susan,

I'm actually Army. I've not gone to JAG yet on the off chance that I could get it resolved through phone calls to Madigan, but that hasn't paid off yet.

I'll give it till the end of the day to see if I get any response from them and then start utilizing secondary resources to get my information. My hope is to be able to utilize the system the way it is set up.

With everything working the way it is supposed to the system looks like it would work very well. With MAMC, however, it feels like a couple of people are miring up the process.

Aside from JAG, are there any other resources that you could recommend? I don't actually know who my physician is handling my case, as a Physician's Assistant did my dictation appointment and a contracted physician handled my VA exam.

Any advice or help is much appreciated.
 
I agree, in theory, the system looks like it will work very well once everyone gets on the same page. To my knowledge, an actual DOC, not a PA has to write your NARSUM, which could be why it is taking so long. If you don't mind me asking, did you go through Neurosurgery at Madigan?? I have contacts there and have seen just about all of the Doctors within that department. If you are in that clinic and saw the PA that I am thinking of, you need to start calling the clinic and asking questions. She is a nice lady and is quite knowledgeable, however, she is quite scatter-brained as well. Here is the Madigan website: http://www.mamc.amedd.army.mil/. I would reccomend filling out an "ICE" comment if no one can give you answers. At least that will put it on someone's radar and you should get some feedback. 2 months is a long time to wait for a NARSUM. Let me know if you have any other questions. I will reach out to my Navy-Liason down there at Madigan and see if he can give any insight for you.
 
Update:

I got ahold of my PEBLO and she told me that they had "just received the paperwork" and that she would call me early next week for my MEB consultation to discuss the NARSUM packet and forward to PEB.

Hopefully they can manage to get the one remaining signature on the packet that they need in a week's time and we can move on from there.
 
Updated progress thus far:

JAN 2011 - Pulmonary Embolism, hospitalized for 1 week. Diagnosed with Factor V Leiden and placed on life-long coumadin and told that I would be undergoing the MEB process. Also given a non-deployable profile.
JUN 2011 - TDY to Madigan for Army Evaluation
AUG 2011 - TDY to Tacoma for VA contracted evaluation
24 OCT 2011 - Narsum dictation done over phone with PA @ MAMC.
10 JAN 2012 - MEB results back with finding of unfit/forward to PEB on DA3947
17 JAN 2012 - Packet reviewed by counsel and appeal declination sent to PEBLO

Now the question is how long is it going to take for the IPEB to send back initial results/ratings. I guess its time to start combing the forums again to review timelines.
 
Updated timeline as of 28 FEB 2012.

JAN 2011 - Pulmonary Embolism, hospitalized for 1 week. Diagnosed with Factor V Leiden and placed on life-long coumadin and told that I would be undergoing the MEB process. Also given a non-deployable profile.
JUN 2011 - TDY to Madigan for Army Evaluation
AUG 2011 - TDY to Tacoma for VA contracted evaluation
24 OCT 2011 - Narsum dictation done over phone with PA @ MAMC.
10 JAN 2012 - MEB results back with finding of unfit/forward to PEB on DA3947
17 JAN 2012 - Packet reviewed by counsel and appeal declination sent to PEBLO
18 JAN 2012 - PEBLO sends packet to PEB
08 FEB 2012 - PEB acknowledges receipt of paperwork (where'd those 3 weeks go!)

28 FEB 2012 - Still waiting in limbo for any sort of results! Hopefully will have some news to share soonish with the board.
 
Another month down!

JAN 2011 - Injury occurs, informed MEB would be started
JUN 2011 - TDY to Madigan for Army Evaluation
AUG 2011 - TDY to Tacoma for VA contracted evaluation
24 OCT 2011 - Narsum dictation done over phone with PA @ MAMC.
10 JAN 2012 - MEB results back with finding of unfit/forward to PEB on DA3947
17 JAN 2012 - Packet reviewed by counsel and appeal declination sent to PEBLO
18 JAN 2012 - PEBLO sends packet to PEB
08 FEB 2012 - PEB receives paperwork
23 MAR 2012 - PEB rating of UNFIT, packet sent to VA for ratings.
?? ??? ???? - Notified of ratings/199
?? ??? ???? - Received orders

On month 15 now with some progress being made. I'm on pins and needles waiting for my rating from the VA. Does anyone happen to know how long the VA in washington state is taking to review cases these days? I'm mentally budgeting 5 weeks or so from what I can glean from the other posters on the board.
 
To the TOP!

JAN 2011 - Injury occurs, informed MEB would be started
JUN 2011 - TDY to Madigan for Army Evaluation
AUG 2011 - TDY to Tacoma for VA contracted evaluation
24 OCT 2011 - Narsum dictation done over phone with PA @ MAMC.
10 JAN 2012 - MEB results back with finding of unfit/forward to PEB on DA3947
17 JAN 2012 - Packet reviewed by counsel and appeal declination sent to PEBLO
18 JAN 2012 - PEBLO sends packet to PEB
08 FEB 2012 - PEB receives paperwork
23 MAR 2012 - PEB rating of UNFIT, packet sent to VA for ratings.
02 MAY 2012 - IRIS inquiry finds that VA completed preliminary ratings on 02 May 2012
?? ??? ???? - Notified of ratings/199
?? ??? ???? - Received orders

Getting there - I'm now waiting on the ratings from the VA to be typed up and processed by my IPEB so I can accept/deny the findings. Its May now and college is due to start in September, lets see what we can do~
 
So what happened? How long did it take for you to receive your 199? My paperwork went to the VA on Nov 5th and I just want some kind of time frame of how long they take.
 
I'm wondering what happened as well.
 
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