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VA Disability Claims: 5 Game-Changing Precedential Decisions You Need to Know
Tbird posted a record in VA Claims and Benefits Information,
These decisions have made a big impact on how VA disability claims are handled, giving veterans more chances to get benefits and clearing up important issues.
Service Connection
Frost v. Shulkin (2017)
This case established that for secondary service connection claims, the primary service-connected disability does not need to be service-connected or diagnosed at the time the secondary condition is incurred 1. This allows veterans to potentially receive secondary service connection for conditions that developed before their primary condition was officially service-connected.
Saunders v. Wilkie (2018)
The Federal Circuit ruled that pain alone, without an accompanying diagnosed condition, can constitute a disability for VA compensation purposes if it results in functional impairment 1. This overturned previous precedent that required an underlying pathology for pain to be considered a disability.
Effective Dates
Martinez v. McDonough (2023)
This case dealt with the denial of an earlier effective date for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) 2. It addressed issues around the validity of appeal withdrawals and the consideration of cognitive impairment in such decisions.
Rating Issues
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Tbird, -
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Are all military medical records on file at the VA?
RichardZ posted a topic in How to's on filing a Claim,
I met with a VSO today at my VA Hospital who was very knowledgeable and very helpful. We decided I should submit a few new claims which we did. He told me that he didn't need copies of my military records that showed my sick call notations related to any of the claims. He said that the VA now has entire military medical record on file and would find the record(s) in their own file. It seemed odd to me as my service dates back to 1981 and spans 34 years through my retirement in 2015. It sure seemed to make more sense for me to give him copies of my military medical record pages that document the injuries as I'd already had them with me. He didn't want my copies. Anyone have any information on this. Much thanks in advance.-
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RichardZ, -
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Caluza Triangle defines what is necessary for service connection
Tbird posted a record in VA Claims and Benefits Information,
Caluza Triangle – Caluza vs Brown defined what is necessary for service connection. See COVA– CALUZA V. BROWN–TOTAL RECALL
This has to be MEDICALLY Documented in your records:
Current Diagnosis. (No diagnosis, no Service Connection.)
In-Service Event or Aggravation.
Nexus (link- cause and effect- connection) or Doctor’s Statement close to: “The Veteran’s (current diagnosis) is at least as likely due to x Event in military service”-
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Tbird, -
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Post in ICD Codes and SCT CODES?WHAT THEY MEAN?
Timothy cawthorn posted an answer to a question,
Do the sct codes help or hurt my disability ratingPicked By
yellowrose, -
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Post in Chevron Deference overruled by Supreme Court
broncovet posted a post in a topic,
VA has gotten away with (mis) interpreting their ambigious, , vague regulations, then enforcing them willy nilly never in Veterans favor.
They justify all this to congress by calling themselves a "pro claimant Veteran friendly organization" who grants the benefit of the doubt to Veterans.
This is not true,
Proof:
About 80-90 percent of Veterans are initially denied by VA, pushing us into a massive backlog of appeals, or worse, sending impoverished Veterans "to the homeless streets" because when they cant work, they can not keep their home. I was one of those Veterans who they denied for a bogus reason: "Its been too long since military service". This is bogus because its not one of the criteria for service connection, but simply made up by VA. And, I was a homeless Vet, albeit a short time, mostly due to the kindness of strangers and friends.
Hadit would not be necessary if, indeed, VA gave Veterans the benefit of the doubt, and processed our claims efficiently and paid us promptly. The VA is broken.
A huge percentage (nearly 100 percent) of Veterans who do get 100 percent, do so only after lengthy appeals. I have answered questions for thousands of Veterans, and can only name ONE person who got their benefits correct on the first Regional Office decision. All of the rest of us pretty much had lengthy frustrating appeals, mostly having to appeal multiple multiple times like I did.
I wish I know how VA gets away with lying to congress about how "VA is a claimant friendly system, where the Veteran is given the benefit of the doubt". Then how come so many Veterans are homeless, and how come 22 Veterans take their life each day? Va likes to blame the Veterans, not their system.Picked By
Lemuel, -
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Question
Berta
Recent VA News Releases
To view and download VA news release, please visit the following
Internet address:
http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel
VA Adds Maps to Online Gravesite Locator
WASHINGTON (June 20, 2006)- The grave locations of more than three
million veterans and dependents buried in national cemeteries can be
found more easily now because the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
has added maps of burial sections online that can be printed from home
computers and at national cemetery kiosks.
The latest improvement builds upon a service begun two years ago, in
which a VA online feature permits family members to find the cemetery in
which their loved one is buried.
"This new map feature makes it easier for families, friends and
researchers to find the exact location of a veteran's grave in all
national cemeteries and some state veterans cemeteries," said the
Honorable R. James Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. "It
enhances VA's service at national cemeteries, already highly regarded,
and our commitment to them as national shrines and historical
treasures."
The gravesite locator (http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov
<http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/> ), online since April 2004, helps
veterans' families, former comrades-in-arms and others find the
cemeteries where veterans are buried. With the new online feature,
people enter a veteran's name to search, click on the "Buried At"
(burial location) link and a map of the national cemetery is displayed,
showing the section where the grave is located.
In a related development, VA recently added to its database the
cemeteries in which 1.9 million veterans were buried with VA grave
markers. These are mostly private cemeteries. This addition brings the
number of graves recorded in the locator to approximately five million.
Those with maps are in VA national cemeteries and in state veterans
cemeteries and Arlington National Cemetery if burials were since 1999.
Beyond the five million records now available, VA continues to add
approximately 1,000 new records to the database each day. VA also plans
to add to its online database the exact locations of veterans'
gravesites in the remaining state veterans cemeteries.
In the midst of the largest cemetery expansion since the Civil War, VA
operates 123 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33
soldiers' lots and monument sites. More than three million Americans,
including veterans of every war and conflict - from the Revolutionary
War to the Global War on Terror - are buried in VA's national cemeteries
on more than 16,000 acres of land.
Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses, and
eligible dependent children may be buried in a national cemetery. Other
burial benefits include a burial flag, Presidential Memorial
Certificate, and a government headstone or marker - even if they are not
buried in a national cemetery. Information on VA burial benefits can be
obtained from national cemetery offices, from the Internet at
http://www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 1
800-827-1000.
GRADUATE ! Nov 2nd 2007 American Military University !
When thousands of Americans faced annihilation in the 1800s Chief
Osceola's response to his people, the Seminoles, was
simply "They(the US Army)have guns, but so do we."
Sameo to us -They (VA) have 38 CFR ,38 USC, and M21-1- but so do we.
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