ptsd Mst At Court Of Vet Appeals

[john999]

I was looking to see if any action had happened lately on my case at the Court of Vet Appeals. I saw that my lawyer is doing a case for a male vet who claims he was raped by his 1st Sgt. in 1969. The BVA denied his claim for PTSD in 2003 saying they only had his word for this MST. It is an interesting and shocking case. My lawyer is Karl Kazmierzak. It seems the rape ruined this kid's life and now he is an older man and still suffering. The victim says he was threatened if he did not keep his mouth shut. He claims the Sgt got him drunk at his house and then attacked him. His parents did say there was a drastic change in his behavior when he got out of the army. There are no SMR's to back up his claim. I wonder what his chances are? He has medical records from 2003 where he claims this happened to him. How do you win a claim almost 40 years after the fact based on only your word and the word of your parents? My lawyer took the case to court, so he must think there is a chance. I see the difficulty in MST if it is not reported and there is no medical exam.

[carlie]

The VA has (supposedly) relaxed the rules on a stressor event for PTSD. And, I will hypothesize that MST would be somewhat similar to PTSD in that both have a "stressor event". I think mental disorders are all rated the same..whether they are PTSD, depression, MST, etc.

bronco,

The relaxed stressor criteria for PTSD does not apply to the event of MST - unless the MST was

done by a hostile military force.

MST is not a diagnosis, it is an event.

MST in and of itself is not a service connectable condition.

The mental health disability/s that are residual disability due to active duty MST/personal trauma,

whether diagnosed as depression or PTSD is service connectable.

Trying to get a PTSD claim granted due to MST when the event was not reported and documented

can be terribly difficult.