ptsd Difficult But Awarded

[Berta]

A superb award for a widow:

http://www4.va.gov/vetapp09/files2/0910441.txt

There was no SC in affect at all in the veteran's lifetime.

The death certificate listed no presumptive disability or any disability that seemed to have any SC potential.

The veteran's SMRs were burned in the St Louis fire.

The widow not only proven the veteran had SC PTSD in his lifetime ut that it contributed to his death.

She had IMOs and a letter from Dr. Boscarino as to a study he had done regarding stress and heart disease.

But this claim a lot of work on her part .

It looks to me like she filed the claim soon after his death in 2000.

It certainly took many years for an award to come -whenever she filed it.

I am sure her deceased husband would be proud of what she did.

[carlie]

Berta,

Thanks for posting this one.

Danged - great claim.

I sure wish it was a precedent setting one from the Vets Court.

carlie

[akwidow]

In cases where the veteran's service medical records are

unavailable through no fault of the claimant, there is a

heightened obligation to advise the appellant to obtain other

forms evidence in support of the claim. In addition, there

is a heightened duty to consider the benefit of the doubt

rule in such cases. O'Hare v. Derwinski,

1 Vet. App. 365 (1991).

I cut and pasted this out of the case that Berta referenced. I did this because the same thing happened in my DIC case. Part of my proof was from a letter written home from Vietnam telling about a tear-gas encounter by my late husband. In this encounter he was taken down, and subsequently put in an oxygen tank for three days. This was tied to his asthma, and part of his ptsd. VA never told me if they found the smr's for this incident. I certainly never got them. I find it hard to believe that a letter written by the vet in 1968 to somebody else than me (I didn't know him then) could be considered a calculating event preceding a claim made 40 years later.... I got the letter totally unexpectedly from an old friend of his in 2007. In any case, this was part of my proof that gave me benefit of the doubt!!!

You never know what will be viable proof, so don't discount anything.

[Berta]

Well said akwidow-

Letters sent home can be very good evidence.

Often letters sent home during the wars were always kept by a family member who often kept the envelope too.

Vets have actually proved they served in Vietnam this way when their record suggested they never stepped onto Vietnamese soil but their MOS and other factors plus copy of the letter they sent home (the envelope can be critical for the APO stamp and date)

helped them prove they were in Vietnam.

That is amazing what you mentioned about that letter that helped your claim.Good advise you gave to anyone too this might well help with their claim.

[akwidow]

Thank you, thank you...I sent them a copy of the envelope too...

Edited January 21, 2010 by akwidow