Question About Deined Claim

[usmc8541]

Hello, I would like to ask about a claim that i have filed and was just denied. I filed a claim for increase on an already rated claim, the claim was first for my back, which i was rated at 40%, it has been ten years since i was first awarded the 40% and i wanted to put in for an increase due to mental depression from the back injury. I filed the increase for my back and wrote detailed accounts of depression issues. After 17 months i received the notice that the increase was denied, yet there is no mention of any depression. I feel that i may have filed the claim wrong, in that i filed for increase of my back, when i should have filed for depression, could anyone let me know if this is true, and or, if i can file an appeal on the denied claim as my back issue is the major cause for the depression, thank you so much for any help.

[carlie]

Hello, I would like to ask about a claim that i have filed and was just denied. I filed a claim for increase on an already rated claim, the claim was first for my back, which i was rated at 40%, it has been ten years since i was first awarded the 40% and i wanted to put in for an increase due to mental depression from the back injury. I filed the increase for my back and wrote detailed accounts of depression issues. After 17 months i received the notice that the increase was denied, yet there is no mention of any depression. I feel that i may have filed the claim wrong, in that i filed for increase of my back, when i should have filed for depression, could anyone let me know if this is true, and or, if i can file an appeal on the denied claim as my back issue is the major cause for the depression, thank you so much for any help.

Welcome,

Please post the Reasons and Bases Section from your Rating Decision

without personal information such as your name, claim #, address, etc . . .

[Pete53]

Were you given a C&P exam if not no chance for increase. Unfortunately its an easy no for VA and they don't caRE HOW LONG A vETERAN HAS BEEN WAITING

[Chuck75]

The VA "should have" also considered the depression as secondary. If there was no mention, then you have to assume that it was denied, and proceed with an NOD. Or, since it was a very recent decision, ask for reconsideration and a hearing. Each path has it's pecularities. If there is medical evidence of treatment, or other evidence of depression, the VA should have scheduled a C&P exam. Since they did not, it's obvious to me that there are serious problems in the denial. The NOD, when an obvious error is evident, can generate (at the VA's discretion), an administrative action that resolves the issue. The reconsideration can do the same thing, but may result in a later EDD, as the VA often treats it as a "new claim". If the VA elects to let the NOD follow the standard path, it may take a long time to resove via the BVA, etc.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Chuck75

[carlie]

I filed the increase for my back and wrote detailed accounts of depression issues.

Along with posting the Reasons and Bases Section from the rating decision -

also post exactly what is stated on the claim you filed.

[jvretiredvet]

In that recent claim, because you mentioned depression related to your back condition, there should have been some additional development. At the very least, there may have been a separate issue for depression or at least some comment. For example, sumpin' like this: "Although you stated you have depression because of your back condition, we have no evidence of a diagnosis of or treatment for a mental condition. Therefore, service connection for depression as secondary to your service connected back condition must be denied."

So, did your VARO ask for treatment records for depression? Do you have a formal diagnosis of depression, or is this self-diagnosed?

As others have already posted, you prolly should consider the issue of depression as denied and file an Notice of Disagreement (NOD). In your NOD, state that the issue of depression was not adequately addressed.

Then, in your spare time, you need to find your paperwork that shows you have a formal diagnosis of depression and that it is related to your service connected back.

On to a possible effective date. If you had a formal diagnosis of depression related to your back when you filed your claim for increase, the effective date would be when you filed that claim for increase.

If you did not did not have that diagnosis when you filed your claim, the effective date of any successful claim would be the date when you did have a diagnosis.

Hello, I would like to ask about a claim that i have filed and was just denied. I filed a claim for increase on an already rated claim, the claim was first for my back, which i was rated at 40%, it has been ten years since i was first awarded the 40% and i wanted to put in for an increase due to mental depression from the back injury. I filed the increase for my back and wrote detailed accounts of depression issues. After 17 months i received the notice that the increase was denied, yet there is no mention of any depression. I feel that i may have filed the claim wrong, in that i filed for increase of my back, when i should have filed for depression, could anyone let me know if this is true, and or, if i can file an appeal on the denied claim as my back issue is the major cause for the depression, thank you so much for any help.

[usmc8541]

Thank you for the responses to my question, I read the va findings over again and there is no reference to any issue of depression listed. I did have a C&P exam which covered my range of motions from my back. The finding stated that i was initially rated under a system prior to 2002 and that the new system would not find an increase. There is no statements about depression or my mental state in any va decision. I do not know if i have been va diagnosed or not, i have told the va doctors about being depressed and have been to couseling, and have been on anti deppressants. Im going to go back on anit deps shorty again. The only current med im taking is morphine daily.