Can a packet for a soldier's medical retirement be submitted twice?

2019-04-04T23:40:44-04:00

Let's say that a provider submits the soldier's packet for review to MEB because he/she believes the soldier is unfit for duty, but the MEB finds the soldier FIT for duty. Let's also say that the provider believes that in the meanwhile, or after some time from the negative response, the soldier's medical status further worsened, can the provider submit the soldier's packet to MEB again?

Response by SSG Brian G. made Apr 4 at 2019 11:44 PM

2019-04-04T23:44:48-04:00

As far as I understand it, packets can be submitted any number of times. One is denied, the next one might not be. It does not hurt anything. It's like submitting a 4187 in repetition.

Response by SFC George Smith made Apr 4 at 2019 11:52 PM

2019-04-04T23:52:57-04:00

Under The Old MRB... Medical Review Board...
If There Was A Change From The Original Findings … There Had To Be In Writing What... How … And Why The Evaluation Was Changed… With an AMED, Senior Medical Field Grade Officer.s Signature...
Which Is Why You Should Have Kept A Certified Copy of your Field Medical Records... Or As I Did … Turned in The Certified Copies And Maintained The Originals...

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 5 at 2019 10:22 AM

2019-04-05T10:22:25-04:00

If the soldiers condition continues to degrade they can be resubmitted.

On a side note, from our conversation earlier regarding repaying tax on bonuses, here is the information straight from DFAS.

Response by CPL Jeremy Glenn made Apr 6 at 2019 9:59 AM

2019-04-06T09:59:05-04:00

They can, but make sure there is evidence that hasn’t been reviewed in the new submission. Just resubmitting a packet as is for a second time will get your claim dismissed pretty quickly. If you haven’t had any or your specialty clinic providers write an in depth letter describing their diagnoses in more detail that may help, but again there has to be new evidence that hasn’t been reviewed. In my experience the notes the providers put in were atrocious, and extremely vague in some instances. Some medical providers just suck at charting so in that case a detailed diagnosis letter put in my file helped. Remember that your medical record is yours. Go through it, make notes, and take any concerns to your providers. If there are any discrepancies you can ask them to rectify them. Depending on their caseload and, simply put, their give-a-damn-meter will determine their level of help. Not to mention how long it takes.

I kept every scrap of documentation throughout my army career. I had medical stuff that wasn’t in the file that was kept at my TMC. Heck, something as simple as a sick call slip can show when something started. If, for example, your file said that you had been dealing with “infirmity X” for only a year, but you can provide new (older) documentation showing that it started farther back then that will help.