Spinal Cord Injury

[Healer]

A veteran suffered a spinal cord injury in Iraq. He is being discharged from Walter Reed in DC to a rehab in Richmond Va. What should is wife know or ask for in terms of service connected disability? Will he be designated a 100% disability and how long would his tricare insurance last or what does it cover?

Thanks,

Healer

[Mike Soumis]

A veteran suffered a spinal cord injury in Iraq. He is being discharged from Walter Reed in DC to a rehab in Richmond Va. What should is wife know or ask for in terms of service connected disability? Will he be designated a 100% disability and how long would his tricare insurance last or what does it cover?

Thanks,

Healer

If the veteran was discharged from the military because of his spinal cord injury he should get 100% disability. To date, there is no cure for spinal cord injury. I hope they can help him in rehab. For me, rehab and occupational theropy didn't help. My spinal cord injury is considered incomplete meaning the spinal cord was not severed.

[Pete53]

No matter what the rate a Vet should automatically get 100% while in the Hospital and recuperating.

Thanks for helping

[theotherguy]

Will he be receiving disability severance or retired pay from the Department of Defense? This will factor into how quickly a running compensation benefit may be established by the VA. Almost every DOD separation or severance benefit is subject to being recouped prior to a running monthly benefit payment being distributed to the veteran.

If the veteran was seriously disabled as a result of service, and his/her disability has not stabilized by the time they separate from active duty, the VA will typically establish total disability compensation benefits under 38 CFR 4.28. Have a look for yourself and it should help you advise them on what they should be pursuing. Each VA Regional Office is supposed to have a "Serious Injury" coordinator that the veteran can establish contact with to help them through the claims process. It is a "hot topic" right now as I'm sure you all know...you can only drop the ball "X" number of times before the media casts a picture of negligence for all to see.

Edited March 12, 2007 by theotherguy

[tdak]

No matter what the rate a Vet should automatically get 100% while in the Hospital and recuperating.

Thanks for helping

Hi,

Is there a time limit to get the temp 100%?

Example: John Doe has leg surgery...out on convalesent for 6 months, but VA says that 3 months is normal time for recuperating.

Would he get the 6 months(with dr. note of course) or the amount of time that the average person should recuperate in?

Thanks.

[Berta]

Temp convalenscence and temp total disability have to be formally claimed with letter to VA and medical evidence that supports the claim.

Temporary convalescence can be extended - by letter and medical evidence showing longer convalescense is required-wih medical evidence that it is needed.

I posted all the regs on these benefits and they can be found under the search feature.

[tdak]

Temp convalenscence and temp total disability have to be formally claimed with letter to VA and medical evidence that supports the claim.

Temporary convalescence can be extended - by letter and medical evidence showing longer convalescense is required-wih medical evidence that it is needed.

I posted all the regs on these benefits and they can be found under the search feature.

Berta,

Thanks, I will look them up. I had brain surgery in Nov 2005 and my rep and I never applied at that time for convalescence because we were waiting on an answer a reply about the claim. I actually filed the claim about a month before I had surgery. The other reason for waiting was to see how I was also recuperating. When the doctors kept telling me 3 more months 2-3 times, then they finally realized I was not going back to work at all and wrote me a letter, we then filed for TDIU, so we again didn't want to file for convalescence, because the TDIU would hopefully be backdated to the original claim date. Now they just keep changing the suspense dates, not seeming to look at me file. SO...yesterday when I spoke to my vet rep. We decided to file everything, including adding a note about the convalescent time(still out from surgery), another updated letter from my docs stating I need help with daily activities, as well as I am getting worse with possibilities of deterioration and I am completly disability and unable to work at all. Oh, and now we are going to claim other secondary conditions that we were holding onto just in case the TDIU didn't go through. The way I look at it, is that they keep changing my suspense dates without sending me any information or adding any note to the file, I might as well just hit them with it all. I've waited this long, whats another month or 2 or 3.

Phew! ok.

Thanks again,

Tamara