Questions That Need Attention

[Trakkar]

Ok i will start here and try to keep this short.

I enlisted in the U.S Army Reserves in 1992.

While i was enlisted i changed MOS and was moved to a new unit.

When i first got to unit for a scheduled weekend meeting , they requested that 8 unit members travel to Millington ,TN Naval Base for physicals.

While in transit to this scheduled appointent , a drunk driver ran a red light and we hit him running about 45mh .

Of course the back of this humvee didn't have seat belts and those in the back including myself was like popcorn going off.

Well i hurt my back and neck and was sent to greenwood hospital in mississippi. This happened in 1998.

I had a lawyer that handled the civil case and got that drunk drivers insurance to cover medical bills and loss of work.

Well i had a young baby at 6months old and a newlywed wife , so i only took 2 days off work and had to go back to work because i couldn't afford to miss any more. I had a family to feed . I have now been self employed since 1999 working on computers.

Well since that accident my back has given me problems from time to time but i just sucked them up and moved on..

Well in the past 2 years my back has gotten extremely worse and i don't do manual labor so the problem is coming from the wreck.

It has gotten hard for me to stand at times, walk at times and can't sleep.

Doctor bills are getting way out of hand for past 2 years because i have been unable to support myself and my health.

I have had 2 Mri's , many injections, many meds and physical therapy and my doctors keep telling me my only option left is surgery ... Which they say is 50/50 that i can get better or worse...

I have herniated disk,bulging disk,pinched syatic nerve and disk degenrative disease.

So is this a service related disabilty and can i get va to pay my rising medical bills?

[Josephine]

Welcome to hadit.

I am sorry I do not know the answer to your questions,

but I can move your forward.

Betty

[Guest Dataman]

My Option is not important, nor anyone else's. The VA is what counts. Apply for SC Disability and let them rate you. Include all records. Civilian and Military (Copies). If you don't have your records, get them.

To me it sounds like SC condition. If you were on duty and you should have been.

Make sure you put this in the claim what happened. Police Reports too.

[jimlane1949]

Ok i will start here and try to keep this short.

I enlisted in the U.S Army Reserves in 1992.

While i was enlisted i changed MOS and was moved to a new unit.

When i first got to unit for a scheduled weekend meeting , they requested that 8 unit members travel to Millington ,TN Naval Base for physicals.

While in transit to this scheduled appointent , a drunk driver ran a red light and we hit him running about 45mh .

Of course the back of this humvee didn't have seat belts and those in the back including myself was like popcorn going off.

Well i hurt my back and neck and was sent to greenwood hospital in mississippi. This happened in 1998.

I had a lawyer that handled the civil case and got that drunk drivers insurance to cover medical bills and loss of work.

Well i had a young baby at 6months old and a newlywed wife , so i only took 2 days off work and had to go back to work because i couldn't afford to miss any more. I had a family to feed . I have now been self employed since 1999 working on computers.

Well since that accident my back has given me problems from time to time but i just sucked them up and moved on..

Well in the past 2 years my back has gotten extremely worse and i don't do manual labor so the problem is coming from the wreck.

It has gotten hard for me to stand at times, walk at times and can't sleep.

Doctor bills are getting way out of hand for past 2 years because i have been unable to support myself and my health.

I have had 2 Mri's , many injections, many meds and physical therapy and my doctors keep telling me my only option left is surgery ... Which they say is 50/50 that i can get better or worse...

I have herniated disk,bulging disk,pinched syatic nerve and disk degenrative disease.

So is this a service related disabilty and can i get va to pay my rising medical bills?

Follow Datamans advice he is right on. Wishing you well with your claims.

[Ricky]

trakkar - welcome to Hadit. If you can get your doctors to review your military medical records and write an opinion stating that your current back problems are at least as likely as not a result of the injuries caused during the accident then yes is should be service connected.

At that point you will draw compensation based upon the level of rating assigned by the VA and yes future treatment for your back can be conducted at a VA hospital if you desire. If I were you I would file the claim with the assistance with a service officer from DAV, AL or other organization and stick around on Hadit for you will find some excellent advice here.

[Trakkar]

Thanks for the replies gents i really apperciate.

The problem is i don't have any military medical records..

When the accident happened instead of sending us on to Naval Base to check us.

They sent us back to Greenwood which is about a 3 hour drive and made us go to a local hospital.

They didn't even do xrays, all they did was give me 800mg Motrin and send me on my way.

[luvHIM]

Do you have a copy of the orders for your assignment to the Naval Base in TN for the physical? Do you have the file from the lawyer who handled your civil suit? Do you have any record at all of your reserve status? Did you keep anything from that time frame regarding your accident and is there a civilian medical record for that time indicating that your back problems began while in route to the Naval Base? What about the hospital you did receive treatment at. They had to document something. Can you get that report? Them doing x-rays that night (night of you accident) is really not the issue. It would have been nice. But the real heart of the matter is a record of the accident and orders stating you were in route to the Naval Base, which would put you on duty at the time of the accident. A report of the ER treatment should be obtained from Greenwood. If you have that, it will suffice as proof of treatment that night.

It may be a challenge with the VA without an SMR (service medical record) showing the incident and or continued back problems...but not impossible. I, agree, FILE A CLAIM...BUT NOT WITHOUT SENDING SOME KIND OF EVIDENCE (medical and otherwise) as attachments to support the claim. Best regards.

Edited April 26, 2008 by luvHIM