diabetes Medical Opinion Does Not Require A Medical Doctor.

[Guest Morgan]

Registered Nurse

§ "A nurse's statement, like a doctor's statement, regarding the possibility of diabetes resulting from his treatment as a POW is sufficient to make the appellant's claim well ground." Goss v. Brown, 9 Vet.App. 109, 115-16 (1996) citing Williams (Willie) v. Brown, 4 Vet.App. 270, 273 (1993) ("[n]Nowhere is it provided in law or regulation that opinions by the examining psychiatrists are inherently more persuasive than that of other competent mental health professionals," there including a registered nurse); Espiritu v. Derwinski, 2 Vet.App. 492, 494 (1992); cf. Jenkins v. United States, 307 F.2d 637, 644 (D.C. CIR.1962) (to qualify as an expert, a person need not be licensed to practice medicine, but just have "'special knowledge and skill in diagnosing and treating human ailments'" (citations omitted)); cf. Black v. Brown, 10 Vet.App. 279, 284 (1997) (limited the value of a nurse's testimony to well ground her husband's claim. In Black, supra, the Court, prior to determining well groundedness, determined that: 1. the nurse did not establish that she had training in cardiology (the claim was service connection of a cardiac condition); nor, 2. had she established that she participated in the treatment of the veteran. Failing these two tests, the Court ruled her testimony could not well ground the case as a trained medical person. Judge Kramer dissented).

MEDICAL TREATISE EVIDENCE

§ A veteran with a competent medical diagnosis of a current disorder may invoke an accepted medical treatise in order to establish the required (medical) nexus29 (for service connection); in an appropriate case it should not be necessary to obtain the services of medical personnel to show how the treatise applies to his case.

Hensley v. West, 212 F.3d 1255, 1265 (Fed.Cir.2000); citing see also Wallin v. West, 11 Vet.App. 509, 514 (1998) (holding that medical treatises can serve as the requisite evidence of nexus).

Edited February 5, 2006 by Morgan

[Pete53]

Nice work. I remember in the early 90's when a social workers evaluation would go a long way to establish TDIU.

[Guest Namvet6567]

I'm going to add this to the post. In 2000, I was going thru a divorce and while enroute to my vehicle, after meeting w/my atty, slipped on the ice and broke my leg. Ex thought it wonderful!! ;-) I filed suit. Four years later we settled. All I originally wanted was my medical expenses covered. We got more. During our arbitration hearing or whatever it's called, we had a problem w/how the responding EMT's described what had happened to me and my statement about what had happened. I'm very honest and make an excellent witness. I disagreed w/what the EMT's had said, in their description, of what they quoted me as saying. The opposing atty's asked me if I was an expert, to which I responded yes. I have an Associate in Science degree, in emergency medical science, was a basic EMT instructor and an advanced EMT instructor, in my state and had worked in the field for about 10 yrs. They took my statements and conceded defeat. Just pointing out that an MSW carries as much as a Phd at the VA. Don't underestimate the power of others.

[Hoppy]

I remember reading a case where a Corpman developed symptoms of an immune system disease while in Viet Nam. He treated the condition with an injection of epinephrine. The symptoms disappeared. He reported it to his superior officers who never saw any symptoms. After discharge he continued to have symptoms. The RO denied the claim. He won on appeal to the BVA.

[Hoppy]

In civil law the statement you made to the emt was unsworn. Also you were tramatized when making the statments. Even if the emt had written his notes down at the time of the accident, he was noting unsworn statements. Sworn statments are usually given more weight than unsworn statements. I had the same situation occur when I sued a guy who t-boned my work truck.

[Guest Jim S.]

As to not being a specialist , can a friend who has several years as a teacher aid, working with the severly handicapped student with both physical and mental disabilities have any wieght, when that person writes a letter in support of Veterans claim stating the decline in the Veterans ability to cope with his social and industrial adaptabilities since leaving service. This friend has had direct contact with the Veteran at the very least, on a monthly basis and more recently on a weekly basis.

Would her training in helping the severly handicapped students to deal with everyday issues that such a person would have some probative weight given to her observations?

Jim S. ;)

Edited February 6, 2006 by Jim S.

[john999]

Jim

I think the weight would be the same as a statement from a friend or spouse.