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Could I service connect this?

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silverdollar22

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I have a dilemma that maybe you experts can help me with. I have been out of the military since 95 and within the past 10 years have been having bad pains in my neck. Recently the pain was so bad that i requested an X-ray for my neck. The results were 2 fused vertebrae and 2 bulging discs. The technician stated that it is congenital. I ask this question. If I had this problem with my neck at the time of my enlistment should it have been identified? I am sure that this happened from a auto accident while on active duty. My medical records show that I was in an automobile accident and had trama to my whole left side. Just wondering how you guys feel about this condition!

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You can answer the question better than we can, as you know more about your health than we do.  Yes, you can serice connect it if you have the caluza triangle documented:  Current diagnois, in service event or aggravation, and nexus.  

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Do you think that there is a way to determine whether my neck problem is congenital or from my accident? In other words could they possibly date this by some method? 

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Once they have a medical opinion about this, you have to seek an alternative opinion to counter it. Gather your records and find a good spine surgeon (Orthopedic or a Neurologist) who is willing to give you an IMO. I started making phone calls and it didnt take long to find one who would do it for $250. This was good price, some of them charge ten times that and more. If the specialist also states you had a congenital deformity, then at least you  have confirmation. I was told I had a congenital deformity (scoliosis) 18 months after I hurt my back. It was the US Army playing CYA though. I challenged that in a lay statement, presented info that I had been hurt while on active duty directly from in service treatment records, and gave them an IMO from a specialist. They rolled over and gave me SC in just over 90 days.

You only need to balance the issue, the tie goes to the veteran.  Congenital deformity would have to have a name and be backed with evidence, so just saying its congenital is not enough. You can challenge that claim and if they dont have anything to back it up, they lose.

If your lay statement contains information about the lack of any medical condition noted before enlistment, they also have to accept that as competent evidence in your entrance exam. You would know if you had a medical condition diagnosed before you entered service, and you dont need medical expertise to know it. The same thing goes for lay statements by your parents if they never were told you had a congenital deformity.

The accident you were in should have generated information about pain in the neck, and anything that was provided from a medical standpoint to check and diagnose the problem. Any x rays or MRI's would benefit you if they show injury to your neck.

All in, you should gather everything that possibly could dispute the decision. One or two items might get you over the hump, but its smart to make sure that they have a tsunami so they cant deny you. Its all leg work.

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Thanks for the in-depth information on this! Only bad thing about this is I’m pretty darn sure that I don’t have any complaints in my SMR’s that will tie this all together. But I figure that for vertebrae to fuse together doesn’t happen over night. I have a decent primary care doctor who has helped me get my hip tied into my accident by saying more than likely than not it happened in the wreck. Even if she is only a primary care doctor they accepted her opinion. Who knows! I’ll have to work on an IMO in the meantime. Again thanks for the advice!!!

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The technician's congenital opinion does not carry the weight of an MD. The VA will probably not make an assumption that this pre-dated your service entry date...especially considering no anomalies were found during your entry exam. I would stay the course; however, they may push it to an appeal.

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