Physical Disability Re-Evaluation Board

drsteele

Member
Registered Member
I am new to the forums and was hoping to find out some information. I was medically discharged from the Navy in March 07. I was separated w/ ONLY 20% disability. I know I am not as badly injured as some coming back from war, but my injuries are impairing.

Background...was forced into a VBSS schooling by my ships command who had full knowledge I had back pain and problems. This resulted in me receiving training with Blackwater. During repelling my harness slipped and I fell 15 feet before harness locked. This resulted in 2 herniated discs in my lower back.

The treatment I received at my duty stationed...quite frankly sucked...and everything was done backwards. I lost complete faith in ALL medical treatment. I am registered with my local Veterans Administration, but just have not obtained any treatment through them.

I was given some information last year, by a fellow Navy Veteran, that there will be a Physical Disability Re-Evaluation Board. I am not sure of the exact name of this board. But, does anyone know if this is up and running yet. My wife did some extensive research last year and found it was going to be established but they were still dragging feet on it.

Any and all information would be appreciated. I am at wits end and my back problems are increasingly becoming worse.

And thank you ALL who are still serving. God bless you all, keep you safe and come home soon!!!

Dave
 
Dave,

Welcome! The board you are talking about is the Physical Disability Board of Review (PDBR). You can read about it in this forum, but you are right, they have not implemented this yet (well past the deadline for them to do so). Check back for updates. I hope you get a good outcome if/when you file.
 
Here is a recent story on the PDBR. My exact quote to the author was:


While the PDBR delay is frustrating, it is the least of the worries for this new board. I would hope DoD takes advantage of this delay to fix the board and make it compliant with the law. Congress intended and the law requires this board to review the entire disability determination. The way DoD implemented this board, it will only help a fraction of the wounded warriors the law intended. Before DoD got its hands on it, this board had tons of potential to correct numerous disability evaluation errors. Now the board is so flawed I am I having a hard time recommending its use. That was probably DoD’s intent all along.


Mike

Injured vets wait for disability appeal process

KEVIN MAURER
AP Features

Jan 07, 2009 15:27 EST

Wounded troops are still waiting to file new appeals of disability ratings that determine what kind of medical care and benefits they get after federal officials missed their goal for beginning the process.

The Department of Defense was already months behind on starting the work of a three-member board that will hear the appeals. The December 2007 act of Congress that created the board mandated it start hearing appeals within 90 days. Though defense officials missed that deadline, they said they planned to start by the end of 2008. That didn't happen either.

"Thousands of wounded troops have gotten inexplicably low disability ratings. An incorrect rating can cost a disabled veteran hundreds of dollars a month," said Vanessa Williamson, the policy director at New York-based Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "Especially in this economy, this is an enormous burden."

A disability rating is based on the severity and long-term impact of a veteran's injury.

A rating above 30 percent means a service member gets a monthly retirement check and his or her family is eligible for care at military hospitals.

Those rated below 30 percent get severance payments that are taxed. While they continue to get health care, it is provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs instead of the military. Their families, once covered by military health insurance, no longer receive government-provided health care.

Capt. Mike Andrews, a spokesman for the Air Force, which is overseeing the panel's creation, said the board is waiting for the Office of the Secretary of Defense to finish vetting the application troops will file.

Spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said Defense Secretary Robert Gates' office has approved the application, but it's been sent to the federal Office of Management and Budget for further revisions. Smith said the application should be posted on the board's Web site in a few days.

Veterans advocates are weary of such promises. They note it wasn't until June — months after the panel was to begin operating — that the Defense Department formally announced its creation.

"Making sure that our veterans get the benefits they have earned should be a top Defense Department priority," Williamson said. "Instead, veterans are getting more delays and more excuses."

Spokeswoman Loren Dealy said the House Armed Services Committee is keeping tabs on the board's progress.

Congress created the board after several investigations found inconsistencies in how the military assigns the disability ratings. Before Congress ordered the streamlined review process, veterans could only seek a lengthy review from a military panel that rarely changed them.

Some veterans advocates believe the Defense Department should use the delay to further revamp the process by giving the new panel the power to assess a veteran's health from scratch instead of just reviewing the disability rating.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Mike Parker, an advocate for wounded soldiers, said the military often doesn't rate a veteran's most disabling condition.

For example, Parker said a soldier had a degenerative eye disease that would have given him over 30 percent disability, but the Army only rated his shin splints, which got a 10 percent rating.

"Before Department of Defense got its hands on it, this board had tons of potential to correct numerous disability evaluation errors," Parker said. "The way the Defense Department implemented this board, it will only help a fraction of the wounded warriors the law intended. That was probably Department of Defense's intent all along."
 
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