ptsd Gaf Score

[peb1]

GAF score of 43 ,,,, SSD approved August 2008 claim for PTSD , and other mental illnesses.... will the SSD help my claim? thanks.....

[Pete53]

GAF is only an estimate and some here are putting to much empathizes on GAF/ Personally your medical history and doc opinions are probably the most important. Just my opinion.

If the VA won't give you a rating you really need a MF to help your claim.

The raters think that they can make Medical Opinions until they are called out on it.

[Andrew]

GAF score of 43 ,,,, SSD approved August 2008 claim for PTSD , and other mental illnesses.... will the SSD help my claim? thanks.....

I am replying to this somewhat dated post to add my view of the state of the law. First, there are two parts to a VA decision -- 1. Does the disability exist and, if so, how bad is it; and 2. Was the disability incurred in, caused by, or aggravated by either military service or treatment at a VA facility? So even is the Social Security Administration determines you are disabled, you must establish the nexus between the disability and your military service. If this is a PTSD case and you had a rough childhood or other possible stressors, VA may try to point to those stressors as the cause of your disability. If they do, request reconsideration and tell them that it is as likely as not that the illness was caused by the in-service stressor and, in the alternative, if you suffered trauma before the service, you were fully functional upon entry and so military service activated and aggravated the disability.

Second, a decision by the Social Security Administration should be accorded "substantial deference" by the VA adjudicator. While the VA adjudicator is not bound by that decision, federal agencies should give the decision of another federal agency great weight. If VA disregards that SSA decision, it must give some reason why. Here's some language you may want to add to your cover letter when you write about your claim to VA. (There's more language that follows this, too, further below.)

The Social Security Administration has recently determined that I am too disabled to work because of my service-connected (name the disability). As such, they have found me eligible for Title II Social Security Disability Benefits. Please see the enclosed decision of the Social Security Administration. While the VA is not bound by the Social Security Administration's decision, it must consider it. See, e.g., DeLoatche v. Heckler, 715 F.2d 148, 150 (4th Cir. 1983). The Court in DeLoatche considered Social Security's failure to consider such a disability determination to be an "egregious" defect in its decision. And in McCartey v. Massanari, 298 F.3d 1072, 1076 (9th Cir. 2002), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stated:

We agree with the approach of the Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits and hold that in an SSD case an ALJ

must ordinarily give great weight

to a VA determination of disability. See Chambliss, 269 F.3d at 522, Brady, 724 F.2d at 921; DeLoatche, 715 F.2d at 150 n.1. We so conclude because of the marked similarity between these two federal disability programs. Both programs serve the same governmental purpose--providing benefits to those unable to work because of a serious disability. Both programs evaluate a claimant's ability to perform full-time work in the national economy on a sustained and continuing basis; both focus on analyzing a claimant's functional limitations; and both require claimants to present extensive medical documentation in support of their claims. Compare 38 C.F.R. § 4.1 et seq. (VA ratings) with 20 C.F.R. § 404.1 et seq. (Social Security Disability). Both programs have a detailed regulatory scheme that promotes consistency in adjudication of claims. Both are administered by the federal government, and they share a common incentive to weed out meritless claims. The VA criteria for evaluating disability are very specific and translate easily into SSA's disability framework. Because the VA and SSA criteria for determining disability are not identical, however, the ALJ may give less weight to a VA disability rating if he gives persuasive, specific, valid reasons for doing so that are supported by the record. See Chambliss, 269 F.3d at 522 (ALJ need not give great weight to a VA rating if he "adequately explain

the valid reasons for not doing so").

Just as SSA must give great weight to VA decisions, so too must VA give great weight to SSA decisions.

-------

In addition, send a letter to the VARO with the following language:

The Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 (VCAA or Act, Pub. L. No. 106-475, 114 Stat. 2096) requires the VA to notify all claimants of "any information, and any medical or lay evidence, not previously provided to the Secretary that is necessary to substantiate the claim." If you believe VA still lacks sufficient evidence to substantiate my claim, please tell me precisely what evidence is still lacking.

In some instances, there may be positive and negative evidence in the VA record.

If you determine there is negative evidence in my record, please let me know what this evidence is, and please let me know what types of evidence would tend to rebut this negative evidence and thus substantiate my claim

.

Even if VA does not answer your letter in an appropriate manner, it will be to your benefit later if you do not prevail on your claim. Please, please, please do not send the VA original documents. Always maintain your own copies in chronological order. And do send everything US Postal Service certified mail with delivery confirmation and return receipt requested so someone must sign for it.

GOOD LUCK!

[Pete53]

Nice Post Andrew

[jsdwd]

Great post Andrew.

I did send documents (not originals) to the RO via certified mail, return receipt, and can establish that they did receive them.

When I had my C & P exam, the documents were not in the file. I had brought copies to the exam just in case and gave them to the examiner. The examiner placed them in the file and mentioned them in her report (which was nice of her), but I still don't know if they are 'officially' in my file. My file has been sent to a different RO (in a different state) for rating so I can't go and request to see it. Phone calls to the 800 number get the response that the person cannot tell (based on what they are looking at on their computer) whether or not the documents are in the file. But I have the return receipt cards, so if the documents are not considered, a request for reconsideration should be doable based on that alone.

Good luck.