5 Ways to establish service connection in VA disability compensation claims

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To receive compensation from the VA, a veteran’s disability must be service-connected. There are five ways to establish a service connection:

• Direct service connection is for a disease or injury that first began in service or was caused by active military service. The burden of proof falls on the veteran to show that their current disability is directly related to their service. This is most easily proven by using military and service medical records as evidence that the condition was diagnosed in service or that symptoms of the condition began in service.  However, in the absence of service records, other evidence can be used to make a case for direct service connection.
  • References
    • 38 CFR 3.304 Direct service connection; wartime and peacetime
    • 38 CFR 3.305 Direct service connection; peacetime service before January 1, 1947

 

• Service connection through aggravation is when a disability the veteran had before going into service gets worse because of their service. In other words, the veteran’s service caused the condition to progress faster than it should have naturally.  All veterans undergo an entrance medical examination before entering active duty to establish the veteran’s health before service. If the veteran has pre-existing conditions, the medical examiner should have noted them on the Report of Medical Examination. A claim for service connection through aggravation is best supported by a medical opinion written by a doctor showing that service aggravated the condition beyond the natural progression. Suppose the pre-existing condition does not appear on the Report of Medical Examination. In that case, the veteran is assumed to be in good health and sound of mind when entering service, called Presumption of Soundness.
  • References
    • 38 CFR 3.306 Aggravation of preservice disability

By law, the VA has established that veterans diagnosed with certain diseases within a specific period of time after service don’t have to prove that their disease is service-connected; it is presumptively service-connected.

• A full list of presumptively service-connected diseases and circumstances can be found here, but the most common circumstances include:
• Diagnosis of specific diseases within one year of being discharged from active duty
• Vietnam Veterans exposure to herbicides, such as Agent Orange
• Gulf War Veterans
• Former prisoner-of-war
• Exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune between August 1, 1953, through December 31, 1987, for a minimum of 30 days (cumulative)
  • References

• 38 CFR 3.307 Presumptive service connection for chronic, tropical, or prisoner-of-war related disease, disease associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents, or disease associated with exposure to contaminants in the water supply at Camp Lejeune; wartime and service on or after January 1, 1947
• 38 CFR 3.308 Presumptive service connection; peacetime service before January 1, 1947
• 38 CFR 3.309 Disease subject to presumptive service connection

 

•  This is granted if a service-connected disability aggravates a non-service-connected disability worse. The more common type of secondary service connection is where a service-connected disability causes another disability.   An example of this would be a case of a veteran’s diabetes causing his/her peripheral neuropathy. Another example would be a veteran’s service-connected back ailment or injury causing radiculopathy or the same back ailment or injury leading to knee problems.
  • References
    • 38 CFR 3.310 Disabilities that are proximately due to, or aggravated by, service-connected disease or injury

• Oftentimes, an injury or aggravation can be caused by poor care and treatment by VA hospitalization, VA medical or surgical treatment, VA exams, or VA vocational rehabilitation, and can be service-connected. If a veteran dies due to VA health care, eligible survivors can receive certain VA benefits.
• References
  • 38 CFR 3.154 Injury due to hospital treatment, etc

In most or all of the ways a veteran can receive service-connected disability benefits, it is vital to the claimant's success to have a physician’s medical opinion that “it is more likely than not ” that the injury or illness was incurred or aggravated during active service.

Source: Republished from Hill and Ponton

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