I do not qualify for SMC s because my PTSD is secondary to my TBI

[Okemos_Veteran74]

I just learned something from a vso, and I'm checking it. I have always found that I get really good advice on this site thank you all

I have a PTSD rating of 70% which gives me tdiu and is permanent and total. I have a TBI rating of 70%.

I do not qualify for SMC s because the PTSD is secondary to the TBI. Is this correct?

[Okemos_Veteran74]

asknod;

. Your reply is informative and humorous.  Thank you.

[Okemos_Veteran74]

I  will gather the documents up and  have them scanned.

 

 

[Okemos_Veteran74]

I was on another veterans website and I found a link to the regulations regarding SMC qualification.

Within these limits, the fact that the single disability, evaluated as totally disabling, and additional disability(ies), independently evaluated as 60-percent or more disabling, share a common etiology, does not preclude entitlement

Does this mean that my PTSD and TBI qualify for SMC s?

 

Here is a link to the regulation that I copied from.

https://vetsbenefits.net/tbi-smc-t-t175776.html

 

Edited April 25, 2018 by Okemos_Veteran74

[broncovet]

Great posts by Berta, Alex, and Buck.  Those VSO's who tell you not to apply for benefits like this, are not acting in your best interests.  

Remember the "Or" operator.  It means you can qualify in any of these ways, not that you have to have Both.  

In the example of A and A, the VA often makes us think we have to be "bedridden" under doctors orders, to get A and A.  This is simply not true.  Bedridden is "one" of several ways, either of which can result in SMC L

(Aid and Attendance).  But I often hear VA/VSO say stuff like, "Oh you have to be bedridden to get SMC L"

(Not true).  

The VA regs are very tricky, and I think meant to decieve.  They often use words like "such as"...and then have a list of examples.  This does not mean you have to have any of those things, but they are examples only.  

Here is a great example of this:  (Criteria for 100 percent mental disorder):  

Quote

 

Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name.

 

You may not have noticed the "such as", then the list following, NONE of which are required for 100 percent for bent brain.  You dont have to forget your own name to qualify for 100 percent for PTSD, as some may suggest.  

[Buck52]

Not necessary  the TBI & PTSD are in relation and gap each other, you can have secondary to the PTSD but on the TBI  secondary to other condition such as PTSD  I think is yet to be determined ?

You would need a good qualified Dr to state so that your PTSD is secondary to TBI or any other conditions that the Dr can prove the TBI is related to or caused from.

If you have a 100% sc rating and another separate and distinct rating of 60% or higher that would meet the SMC Criteria   or if you have combined ratings of 90% or higher and then have another separate condition 60% or higher  would meet the SMC Criteria

This is a correct that if you have 70% and getting IU & another s.c. condition 60% or higher would qualify you for the SMC ...but not TBI VS PTSD this is uncommon and is yet to be determined.

TBI is debatable as to how to configure that into a secondary condition  without pyramiding/over -lap the TBI vs PTSD.

If the TBI caused you to go blind or not walk  ect,,ect,, OR WHICHEVER, and you had a qualified Dr to nexus the two  then the going blind would or could be filed as a secondary to the TBI   unless other symptoms of blindness was found in your STR's  and then they would use loss of use of a body part and rate that in the blind rating section of the CFR  which total blind is a 100% rating by itself

UNFORTUNATELY YOUR  70% TBI  AND 70% PTSD  UNDER THE NORMAL RATING SYSTEM THIS RATING WOULD NOT MEET THE SMC CRITERIA..  however I could be wrong here because I don't truly know how they rate the TBI and what secondary condition they can rate to a TBI

Other members please chime in.

Edited April 25, 2018 by Buck52

[Okemos_Veteran74]

I am having trouble locating a scanner to scan my comp and Pen exam. I know that I posted a copy of my TBI comp and Pen exam on this website in the last few months of 2016.