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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
Hoppy
I had to edit this. I tried to embed full sized jpg's and it would not let me. I used to do this many years ago. So now I attached two files of the referenced jp's. Click on the thumbnails to see full jpg's
Now we have to trust the RO’s to request and obtain deck logs. Individuals and Service org’s have been taken out of the loop effective July 8th 2013. I received the information pasted below in italics from a secretary at the NHHC yesterday.
I spoke to the guy in charge of deck logs here at NHHC and he stated that "official requests come to us from a regional office of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs or the VA appeals office here in DC only. State/county/city departments of veterans affairs as well as organizations like DAV, VFW and Purple Heart are not considered official requests."
The RO’s can’t even figure out how to get records from a VAMC. Paste below are two scans from a veterans denial.
To keep it short. Here are the facts. The records were not destroyed or lost in the 94 earthquake. A VAMC employee lied to the veteran telling him the records were destroyed when the basement of the Sepulveda hospital flooded from water pipes breaking throughout the hospital. The VAMC records clerk lied because he was too lazy to get the records. Every employee of that hospital knew that no records were lost or destroyed due to the earthquake. The RO was so far out of the loop they believed otherwise. The records were eventually obtained. The veteran notified the RO that the records were found and now in possession of the West LA VAMC. This prompted the RO to request the records in April 2000 as they noted. The RO indicated that no response was received from the VAMC. Because they were out of the knowledge loop they did not make a second request.
Here is where it gets really interesting. The RO says the hospital did not respond to the April 2000 request. However, the veteran was a little upset that the VAMC did not respond. The veteran went to the VAMC and was shown the document below described as “purpose of disclosure”
It turns out the VAMC requires that an RO employee personally pick up the records from the VAMC. The records supervisor stated that somebody named Carlos from the RO picked up the records and signed for them on July 27, 2000. The decision denying the claim was made in November 2000. The RO lost the record somewhere between April and November of 2000 and had no way of determining that someone named Carlos had actually picked them up. Don’t they keep records or can’t they read. The records supervisor told the veteran he was not the first veteran to have the VA claim that their office did not respond when in fact they did respond. I have this information because this was my own claim.
Edited by HoppyHoppy
100% for Angioedema with secondary conditions.
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