Info on Compensation & Pension Examination

Provided by a past VA C&P Examiner

The following is written from a C & P examiners perspective relating to psychiatric exams.  It is a good guideline for all exams. A little common sense and clarity of thinking will go a long ways towards getting what you are entitled.

Be on time or a little early.

Be polite. Yelling at the examiner for the injustices you perceive will do nothing but alienate him/her.

Curse at your risk. You can get your point across much better with proper English than you can with profanity.

This person is going to rate you.  It’s his/her job and that is why you are there, to be adjudicated fairly. How would you like to be remembered, as a stereotypical veteran? Or a troubled one who is doing the best he/she can?

Do not talk about alcohol or drug related issues unless you are there to be assessed for those problems. If the examiner asks about alcohol or drugs, politely remind them that you are not there for those issues, if you’ve ever had them, but for how impaired you are in your daily functioning.  It’s best to avoid even talking about them. 

Don’t waste your time with how badly you believe you’ve been mistreated.  The examiner only has a short time to figure out how impaired you are and they need the facts.  Coherent and concise sentences, not rambling rants will get your concerns across.

Answer the questions honestly and to the best of your ability.  If you don’t know, say so. 

Be honest.  Don’t embellish your stories. Just give them all the facts.  Document everything you tell the examiner and everything he/she tells you or comments on. If possible have letters from people you served with, unit diary copies of incidents that occurred during your time and space, and letters from family members. Family member letters usually don’t add a lot of weight to your case but can be somewhat helpful.

If sleep is a problem for you don’t sleep the night before.  Go in on the ragged edge of tired out.  But do your best not to be rude and insensitive.  Payback in a C & P exam is you lose.  Not all examiners are that way but I have met a few that should not have been examiners.

When responding to examiners you need to pick the worst moment of time relating to that question.  You need to be rated based on the worst times you have had (flare ups). The VA “must consider” and put much weight in your decision based on flare up and functional loss.

The questions you are being asked are on a examination worksheet in front of the examiner.  After examiners do this for a while they get a sense of what is in front of them.  It’s not too difficult to determine when someone is flat out lying and when they are struggling with memory.  Always give the true facts and back them with medical records.

Examiners are generally good people trying to do a very difficult job. 

Remember to report how you REALLY are doing and not how you’d like to be doing. Most veterans want to be doing MUCH better than they really are. They know they can be doing better, and have done better, but their pride does not let anyone know how badly they really are doing.  If you answer the question with, “I’m doing pretty good.”  The examiner will write down that, “The veteran reports that he is doing pretty good?”  Answer truthfully if you want your claim adjudicated fairly. 

The best answer I ever got from a veteran was a former Marine Vietnam Veteran who said, “If I’m here I can’t be doing very well now can I?  I haven’t been able to sleep for the past ten days over worrying about this exam, my wife says I’m really grumpy, and the bill collectors call all of the time.” 

What this veteran just told me was he couldn’t sleep due to anxiety, the heart of PTSD, was depressed (remember grumpy?), another key facet of PTSD, and he’s had problems with his work history if he can’t pay his bills.  He wasn’t angry about what he said.  He was so matter of fact it took me a bit to realize what he had said.  He could have been talking about having a cup of coffee for all of the emotion he expressed.  These are things I can explore further with the veteran.  I don’t have to hunt or pull teeth for information.  This veteran controlled the exam because he was clear about his problems and knew what he wanted to say.  I spent some extra time with him.  In the end he ended up 100% service-connected for PTSD.  He had his ducks in a row, paperwork all present, and had done enough clinical work prior to the exam that he knew what his problems were and more importantly how to express them to another person.