Disability

Appealing a 70% VA Disability Rating

[ad_1] When a veteran applies for benefits from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the agency will assign…

2 years ago

Veterans military sexual trauma disability claims still not being handled properly: watchdog

[ad_1] Veterans Affairs officials insist they are getting better at processing disability claims related to military sexual trauma, but outside…

2 years ago

Single Judge Application; Hensley prohibits the Board from denying service connection for hearing loss solely because the audiometric test results did not constitute a disability under § 3.385 during service. 5 Vet.App. 155, 160 (1993); Hensley does not prohibit examiners from discussing in-service audiometric test results or relying on audiometric results that reveal normal hearing to form their opinion if they also consider other factors. Id.;

[ad_1] Single Judge Application; Hensley prohibits the Board from denying service connection for hearing loss solely because the audiometric…

3 years ago

Vets should be getting fewer disability benefits, more help in post-military life says former SECVA

[ad_1] Former Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie on Tuesday criticized the current veterans benefits system in America as being too…

3 years ago

Sleep Apnea VA Disability Rating: I’m a VETERAN and this is how YOU CAN WIN!

If you are struggling with sleep apnea, it may be time to get your VA disability rating. Sleep apnea is…

3 years ago

“Purely subjective complaints such as headache, dizziness, insomnia, etc., recognized as symptomatic of brain trauma, will be rated 10[%] and no more under [DC] 9304. This 10[%] disability rating will not be combined with any other rating for a disability due to brain trauma. Ratings in excess of 10[%] for brain disease due to trauma under [DC] 9304 are not assignable in the absence of a diagnosis of non-psychotic [OBS] with brain trauma.” 2015 WL 5255331, at*8 (quoting 38 C.F.R. § 4.124a, DC 8045 (1988));

[ad_1] Single Judge Application; brain trauma 1970; 38 C.F.R. § 4.124, DC 8045 (1970) (providing that “[p]urely subjective complaints,…

3 years ago

Panel Application; section 1155 directs the Secretary to establish in the rating schedule “ten grades of disability” for evaluating the severity of such conditions, the Secretary has provided less than ten levels of disability for most of the conditions listed in the schedule. See generally 38 C.F.R. §§ 4.71a – 4.150 (1992). Therefore, the schedular ratings established by the Secretary for compensation purposes may not in all cases provide a sufficiently comprehensive basis for determining when a measured worsening of a particular veteran’s condition in service constitutes an “increase in disability” for purposes of establishing service connection through aggravation under section 1153. This would seem to be so where the next higher rating is more than one decile greater. Furthermore, the rating-schedule provisions may not in all cases provide the most accurate or most logical basis for determining whether there has been an “increase in disability” during service. For example, with respect to organic mental disorders and psychoneurotic disorders, the rating schedule provides for disability ratings based on a finding that the condition causes “total”, “severe”, “considerable”, “definite”, or “mild” social and industrial impairment. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.132, Diagnostic Codes 9300-9411 (1992);

[ad_1] Panel Application; section 1155 directs the Secretary to establish in the rating schedule “ten grades of disability” for…

3 years ago

Claim Accuracy Request (CAR); Expeditious review and determination of disability claim decisions;

[ad_1]   Read More Here Through a collaborative effort with VSOs and other representatives, VA launched a Claim Accuracy Request…

3 years ago

Decision Assessment Document; Shea v. Wilkie, June 20, 2019, 926 F. 3d 1362 (Fed. Cir. 2019); where claimant’s filings refer to specific medical records, and those records contain a reasonable ascertainable diagnosis of a disability, the claimant has raised an informal claim for that disability under 38 C.F.R. 3.155(a);

[ad_1] Decision Assessment Document; Shea v. Wilkie, June 20, 2019, 926 F. 3d 1362 (Fed. Cir. 2019); where claimant’s…

3 years ago

Single Judge Application; The Board cannot avoid adjudicating an issue before it, here the proper rating, simply because it may also arise in a different claim. See Rice, 22 Vet.App. at 450-54 (clarifying that TDIU is not a “claim” but an entitlement to a total disability rating when certain qualifications are met); As appellant notes, the Board’s failure to address entitlement to TDIU based solely on the veteran’s migraine headaches was prejudicial because that entitlement may lead to eligibility for SMC under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(s). See Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet.App. 280, 293 (2008) (“[S]ection 1114(s) does not limit ‘a service-connected disability rated as total’ to only a schedular rating of 100%, and the Secretary’s current regulation permits a [total disability rating based on individual unemployability] based on a single disability to satisfy the statutory requirement of a total rating.” (quoting 38 U.S.C. § 1114(s))); And VA has had a long-standing policy of considering SMC where it may apply, even if not explicitly raised. See Akles v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 118, 121 (1991);

[ad_1] Single Judge Application; The Board cannot avoid adjudicating an issue before it, here the proper rating, simply because…

3 years ago
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