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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.- 4 replies
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RichardZ, -
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
allan
Subject: [VeteranIssues] Navy researcher links toxins in war-zone dust to ailmentsDate: May 12, 2011 10:28 AMAttachments: image001.jpg image002.png
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2011-05-11-Iraq-Afghanistan-dust-soldiers-illnesses_n.htm
Partial reprint..go to web site, video, and other links there
By Kelly Kennedy, USA TODAY
U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait
have inhaled microscopic dust particles
laden with toxic metals, bacteria and fungi
— a toxic stew that may explain everything
from the undiagnosed Gulf War Syndrome
symptoms lingering from the 1991 war
against Iraq to high rates of respiratory,
neurological and heart ailments
encountered in the current wars, scientists
say.
David Furst, AFP/Getty ImagesMarines in
Afghanistan are engulfed in dust researchers
say could contain harmful particles.Enlarge
By David Furst, AFP/Getty Images
Marines in Afghanistan are engulfed in dust
researchers say could contain harmful particles.
"From my research and that of others, I
really think this may be the smoking gun,"
says Navy Capt. Mark Lyles, chair of medical
sciences and biotechnology at the Center for
Naval Warfare Studies at the Naval War
College in Newport, R.I. "It fits everything —
symptoms, timing, everything."
Lyles and other researchers found that dust
particles — up to 1,000 of which can sit on
the head of a pin — gathered in Iraq and
Kuwait contain 37 metals, including a
luminum, lead, manganese, strontium and
tin. The metals have been linked to
neurological disorders, cancer, respiratory
ailments, depression and heart disease,
according to the Environmental Protection
Agency. Researchers believe the metals
occur both naturally and as a byproduct of
pollution.
Researchers in and out of the military say
the particles are smaller and easier to inhale
than most dust particles, and that recent
droughts in the region have killed desert
shrubs that helped keep down that dust. The
military's heavy vehicles have pounded the
desert's protective crust into a layer of fine
silt, Lyles says. Servicemembers breathe the
"Keep on, Keepin' on"
Dan Cedusky, Champaign IL "Colonel Dan"
See my web site at:
http://www.angelfire.com/il2/VeteranIssues/
http://www.facebook.com/dan.cedusky
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