dan in sf

I'm curious how it's going all these months later.

My cousin's waiting for a decision on his 1151 claim, which (if approved) would give him service-connection for almost total blindness that was caused by delayed treatment and misdiagosis of an eye infection that destroyed his retinas in 1998. He was working at that time. Since he filed what the VA may consider an 1151 claim in 1998 (and a more specific claim in 2004, and again in January), we are asking that his disability compensation begin effective 1998. If the VA disagrees that the paperwork filed in 98 constitutes an 1151 claim, it may just start the claim in 04. So, even if he's "retired" now at 73, is there any period after 1998 (when he was working at age 62) for which he might have been eligible for unemployability benefits, and if so, can he get any of those benefits, or is it too late to file for them? Assuming 1151 service connection is still considered service connection for purposes of unemployability claims.

Without knowing much about this particular kind of benefit, I see that you have to show the disability is service-connected, and that you're unable to gainfully work. So it seems to me that you at least want to convincingly prove that (1) you're not working gainfully and (2) the injury is service-connected. Your comment about not being able to come up with a bunch of doctors or doctors' records suggests that you didn't prove service-connection? How is the back injury service connected? Did you get treated at all during service? If so, I'd think the V.A. archive in St. Louis or another regional archive would have the records ...