Approval Of Nexus Letters (gerd Gastritis)

[mags1023]

I posted yesterday that I had won my claim. I got my envelope today and thought it might help some folks out to post how my letter reads and what the VA said about my NEXUS letters, so here it is:

For Hiatal Hernia/GERD and mild erosive gastritis as secondary connection for long term use of NSAIDs:

Your Dr. opined that the long term use of NSAIDs used to treat your arthritis and carpal tunnel "more likely than not" adversely contributed to your Hiatal Hernia/GERD and mild erosive gastritis.

In another letter dated...your family Dr. opined that your medications prescribed may have contributed to your condition. Your Dr. further stated these conditions are "at least as likely as not" related to your military service or the treatment of your service connected conditions.

The VA examiner opined that your Hiatal Hernia/GERD and mild erosive gastritis was not caused by NSAIDs (surprise, surprise ;) ).

Decision: Since the medical opinions of your private Dr's and the VA examiner are at "equipoise", reasonable doubt has been resolved in your favor and we have granted service connection on secondary basis. The opinions of the private physicians have been assigned more weight, as a rationale was provided with each opinion. The VA examiner did not provide a rationale.

So there you have it. All the experts on Hadit advised me to get these nexus letters from my Dr.s and they obviously were the key. I wrote the letters myself and had the Docs sign them when I was in their exam room. I can't imagine ever submitting anything without a NEXUS letter again. The wording could be a little stronger like use "caused" instead of adversely contributed. Hopefully, the doc will sign off on it.

I hope this helps some of you out there searching for the right words to say.

[Tbird]

This is an old topic and has been locked. Please start a new topic with your question. Thank you!

[Ricky]

good post - the most important point is that the doc MUST provide a good medical rationale.

He can say that you suffer from anything and that your service caused it all day long - but without a rationale his and your time is simply a waste of time.

[Berta]

GREAT

And a GOOD example of how adversarial the VA docs are!

These lousy C & P docs should be sued for malpractice- if they cannot properly provide medical rationale themselves-how can they also treat VA patients.

(maybe they stick the documented malpractice or 1151 docs into the C & P system instead of letting them practice medicine anymore- this is something on my list for the H VAC)

[carlie]

Congrats again.

"Decision:

Since the medical opinions of your private Dr's and the VA examiner are at "equipoise", reasonable doubt has been resolved in your favor and we have granted service connection on secondary basis. The opinions of the private physicians have been assigned more weight, as a rationale was provided with each opinion. The VA examiner did not provide a rationale."

This is also a great example of how, when and why Reasonable Doubt,Medical Rationale

and the Weight Afforded some Evidence,come into play during the claims adjudication process of Evidence

carlie