19 September 2016
 Categories: Law, Blog

If your Veterans Affairs (VA) claim has been denied, you join many other veterans who saw their claims routinely turned down as well. Although there are many scandals involving the VA—especially when it comes to claims handling and appointment backlogs—you need to make sure that your claim information is correct. Odds are, if you weren't a lawyer or doctor with the military, you're missing some descriptive medical information or legal precedence to make your claim succeed. As you file your appeal, consider a few VA system requirements that can increase your chances of success.

What Is The VA Looking For?

To prevent fraud and make sure that veterans are getting care specific to their needs, the VA requires that all claims and appeals pass a service connection test.

A service-connected condition is a condition that is both related to military service and currently causing enough of a problem to warrant compensation. Compensation is in the form of monetary compensation and medical assistance, and the amount of compensation varies depending on the severity of the condition.

In order to prove a service connection, you'll need clear language in your claim or appeal that shows military connection. You can't just be in pain and expect the VA to know that it's obviously because of hard times in the military. Here's a few examples to show what is required:

1. A Radio Technician falls from an antenna platform and injures his back. He continues working and is discharged as honorable, but still has back pain. He will need an incident report showing that he fell or a medical review in the military documenting the injury. He will also need a new medical review showing damage to muscles, bones, or anything else that would indicate a problem.
2. An Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician is shot while disarming an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). She must have an incident report of this issue or a medical report of being shot, as well as current medical evidence showing damage.
3. An Infantryman had no major combat injuries, but has been unable to walk without a limp since his last few months in the military. Without any medical documentation, he must file a claim as soon as possible to avoid any chance of passing the blame to his civilian lifestyle. He must still have a medical examination with current proof showing some sort of damage that caused the limp.

All of these situations depend on proof. Without proof, you need to have a good set of arguments that create a reasonable idea that your problem was caused by military service.

Get A Lawyer For Presumptive Claims

Not all issues are easy cause-and-effect situations. Many types of joint, nerve, and muscle pain may happen without you knowing exactly what caused them. Tumors, cancers, and growths of all kinds can develop, but it's hard to put the blame on genetics or something you were exposed to in the military.

Presumptive condition claims help veterans by bridging the gap when vital, military-linking evidence is missing. The importance of presumptive claims is highlighted in situations such as Agent Orange, where the links between disease and Agent Orange use were highly debated and often denied until decades later.

There are less dire situations that are understandable, but you'll need a lawyer to argue effectively. A personal injury lawyer has more experience with looking over given injury evidence, and then arguing potential causes and how your military career syncs up with these causes.

Contact a personal injury lawyer for detailed appeal analysis and medical evidence when VA backlogs get in the way.