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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
Bigred122
It's been one of those weeks. Ticker has been acting up and the thought that my claim may out live me ticks me off.So I thought I better try something different so that maybe my kid will be able to get what the system screwed me outta of. Since seeing it here and reading a couple of court cases where the Vet gave them tons of medical studies, articles and medical opinions from all over the world about their disability and to see the VA blow off the info. Example: Vet includes Einsteins Theory as evidence. The VA responds: " Although Einstein is well known for E= MC2, it is still ONLY a theory.And since the MC in his theory doesn't stand for Michael Curtis, we have to deny this theory as being evidence of your POSSIBLE disability." Even tho on their ebenefits website, they ask for such information to prove your disability association, they at the end just dismiss this information.
What I want to do is send them some copies of some pictures of me out in the field providing communications for such units as the 72nd Armour and the 32nd Calvary in South Korea. Both of these units are on the APPROVED for AO list. These pictures show us more in the weeds than these units are.lol They tear up alot of ground when they are out there playing and nothing grows there for quite sometime. These are just two of the units that our platoon has provided communications out on field manuevers. I've included a few pictures of us on the other Koreas side of the border and the 20' boat with the single beaver tail paddle we used to get to the other side of the river. They will be able to verify the pictures from their satelittes. I'm sure not to much has changed since 1972!! I've also included a picture of one of my buddies Headstone who I served with in Korea and is in the pictures with me. He passed away in 2003 of cancer. He was a Great friend and a Damn good soldier!! He re-entered the service and did 2 tours in the Persian gulf where he was presented a Bronze Star! The funny thing is, we both enlisted in the service in Oregon. Yet he is buried just 50 miles from where I live now. I was looking for my buddies I served with in Korea to get buddy letters for my claim when I found out about him. The rest of the platoon are still alive according to SSA but that is all that they would give me.I only hope that they are not dealing with all the health problems that Ron and I have dealt with. Ron and I loved what we did and was always the first to volunteer for field manuevers duty.Awwww the stories we shared. Anyway, has anyone tried telling their stories thru pictures. They show where I was, who we were with and the weeds we setup in. Duty rosters are often the type of things that come up missing.I was saving the idea of using pictures for if I got denied.But this weeks flareups has convinced me to include it now to maybe stop a denial on the claim. My AO claim is probably my weakest of my claims especially since seeing all these blowoffs by the VA with medical articles and other studies relating to Agent Orange. Hopefully these pictures will show the VA that these units could not do their jobs without us providing communications to them and Division Headquarters on what their mission was. Where they walked, we walked and etc. These pictures should show the correlation between the two units and what they were exsposed to we also was exposed to the same conditions. Veldrina, have you seen anyone use pictures as evidence??? Mike
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