The Veterans Affairs (VA) compensation system is notorious for long wait times and seemingly careless denials, but do understand that the organization does have representative who want to help. In many cases, a VA claim simply lacks all of the relevant information needed to certify that your problems exist and were caused by military service. To get a better understanding of the system and how to make your claim or appeal fit, bring a few of these ideas into the development of your next set of paperwork.
Don't Get Caught In The Fraud Net
The VA has a lot of resources at its disposal, but that doesn't mean it can give money away for nothing. In order to keep out and discourage veterans who may be faking injuries for an easy payout, the VA Compensation and Pension (C&P) system features an administrative checking process and medical exams that will test the statements in your claim against your physical condition.
If you have a valid injury, you may discover that the VA sees your injuries and understands your problem, but denies you anyway. Why would they do that? Wouldn't it be easier to just allow you to edit your claim and submit the information under different circumstances? Not necessarily.
The VA doesn't just filter out fake injuries, but injuries that may not have occurred during military service. For example, the VA won't give you disability for a car accident or on the job injury that happened after the military or has nothing to do with government service. There are medical benefits that the VA can use to assist you in such cases, but disability is not one of them.
A Denial May Simply Be A Request For Correction
If there are only minor changes that have to be made, you may be allowed to modify your claim slightly. In many cases, a veteran will have to file an appeal with different information. This new appeal not only needs to include the different injuries that were discovered, but factual information that links those problems to your service. This can include medical record entries or complaints that were documented before you left the military.
There may be a strange set of circumstances where the VA is wrong about the original decision. They may not see that your original claim is actually related to issues they assume are related. The process could have gone by too quickly and claims handlers may not have considered the connection. You may not have paperwork the explicitly explains these 'different' injuries, so you'll need a medical and legal team to support you.
A personal injury lawyer can help by developing a clear trail of evidence that points to military service as the cause. If you're missing information, the lawyer can collect statements from past medical personnel or search for circumstantial evidence that the untrained eye may not see.
They can also enlist the aid of a medical team that knows how to connect the new diagnoses to your original complaints. It could be an honest mistake of confused pain, incorrect medical terms or other issues that you shouldn't be punished for through denial.
Contact a personal injury lawyer (such as Richard H Glazer Co LPA) to begin planning your legal defense and building a claim that can get you closer to compensation.
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