Aid & Attendance

[gdsnide]

OK Here's how it goes.

I'm 100% P & T for Epilepsy & put in for Aid & Attendance which got turned down at the RO ( Love them RO's.. lol)

So I sent it to the BVA & I have my Shrink,Primary Care & Neurologist saying I need Aid & Attendance.

OK Here's the question

I have an IMO from a Neurologist ( Who is framiliar with the VA & may have worked for them at one time...My memory sucks) that says I have "Mild Dementia"

Meaning the beginning of Alsheimers & since I got SC is because I was beat up by 2 Shore Patrol in 1967 in Japan & the BVA agreed this is what caused Epilepsy.

Claim is at BVA so haven't turned in "Mild Dementia IMO" yet.

Is it possible to get this to them or do I just wait till they do what they do & then submit this or how do I do it.

Thank you very much for any information.

Sincerly, GARY

[Rich T]

You can fax or e-mail your BVA SO and have them submit the info. A&A is granted in three stages: 1st is regular A&A "L" award, 2nd is special A&A "R1" award, and 3rd Higher Level A&A "R2" award. You need to know that the need for A&A has to be over and above the 100%. The VA feels that they already compensate you for the 100%, so A&A has to be needed as if your 100% wasn't present. Therefore requesting A&A for epilepsy is probably not going to award A&A. You can try anything, but if A&A is needed for another S/C condition, I would push for that.

[Jay Johnson]

I'm not sure you want to present that IMO. I'm no expert on this, but does the VA consider al zheimers to be a SC disability? I have a background in medicine and al zheimer related dementia is a purely genetic disease (at least all the evidence points to that at this time).

Again, I'm not sure, but if it's not a service connectable disability, couldn't it give them reason not to award the claim based on a disease outside of the scope of your disability? Or is there precedence for this sort of thing?