Additional disability to open claim.

[GONZO]

Can I add additional disabilites to a open claim that is in the "gathering evidence" stage? 

[Vync]

Welcome to Hadit!

Just because you filed a disability claim, you do not need to wait for it to be completed in order to file for additional disabilities.

The VA uses the SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABILITIES to classify and rate disabilities. What you might consider an additional disability could be viewed by the VA as either part of the same disability, or perhaps a completely different disability.

For example, if you filed a disability claim due to a lumbar L3-L4 disc problem, but want to file for the adjacent disc L4-L5, then the VA would consider that the same disability because the rating schedule considers all discs within the lumbar spine to be a single disability.

However, if you filed a disability claim due to a lumbar L3-L4 disc problem, but filed for sciatica because it impacts your legs, then that would be considered a completely separate disability. In this case, the sciatica would be considered secondary to your lumbar disability.

 

[GONZO]

Thanks for a quick response....