![]() You will need medical opinions from a gastroenterologist and probably a psychiatrist or psychologist to show the VA that the stomach disorder is the result of, or caused by, the mental health condition. Are the stomach problems able to be service connected using secondary service connection?Īnswer: Probably. That mental health condition leads to stomach problems. Scenario 1: As a result of a combat injury, you are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress (aka, PTSD), depression or any other mental health condition. The legal burden of proof you need to meet is, however, the same as any other service connection claim: the doctor only needs to conclude: It is “ at least as likely as not” that Service-connected Condition A caused Condition B.Įxamples of Proving Secondary Service Connection. ![]() Likewise, in a secondary service connection claim, you will have to have a medical doctor offer an opinion that your condition was caused by – or resulted from – a service connected condition. You go to someone that is trained in diagnosing that problem. That makes sense, right? You don’t go to a yoga instructor to tell you why your car’s “check engine” light is coming on. Why not? Because lay evidence is often insufficient to establish medical causation. You will not succeed in a secondary service-connection claim without sufficient medical evidence. Here is what you Need to Prove Secondary Service Connection. (Don’t confuse this with the theory of service connection by aggravation – when a service-connected condition makes another pre-existing or non-service connected condition worse). If this is the case, then you are going to want to tell the VA you are claiming service connection based on a legal theory of “Secondary service connection”. Secondary service connection can be a big deal. If he dies from the condition – he’ll be the first to tell you that his Vascular Dementia will kill him long before his renal dysfunction – his wife will be eligible for survivor benefits and his kids will be eligible for Dependents Educational Assistance (aka, DEA). Just like my client in the above example – his Vascular Dementia did not arise in service.īut because it was caused by a condition that WAS service-connected, he is able to file a claim and seek compensation for it. Vascular problems can lead to organ problems.īecause the parts of the human body do not work in isolation, you may find yourself with a medical condition that did not arise in military service. If you have problems with your blood pressure, you may cause problems with your vascular system. If you have a problem with your “pump”, you may likely have problems with your blood pressure. Sometimes a service-connected injury can cause another injury or condition.īecause the parts of the human body do not work in isolation. ![]() There is not always a nice straight line between an in-service injury and a medical condition. Today I just want to talk to you about one of those paths: Secondary Service Connection. – you should check out my VA Field Manual (eBook) “5 Paths to Service Connection” If you want to learn about all 5 Paths – what they are, how to prove them, when to use them, how many to use, etc. I am not going to talk about all 5 here today. Nor do they know that you can – and should – argue more than one way that your disability is service connected. Most Veterans – believe it or not – don’t know this. There are 5 different ways to show that any medical condition is somehow related to your military service. This is where Secondary Service Connection comes in. The Vascular Dementia – a condition that is somewhat similar to Alzheimer’s in its symptoms, but completely different in its causation – would quickly rob him of his ability to earn an income and provide for his family. But it was nothing more than a major inconvenience – he could still work, go hunting, occasionally ride a motorcycle (against his better judgment, he always told me with a wink). The Veteran had service-connected Renal Dysfunction from his Vietnam era service. “They said my kidney problem was like a chain of dominoes inside my body – this is just the first to fall.” I noticed in past conversations that he was having a lot of difficulty saying words, and more difficulty understanding what I would say to him. Then he started to lose his vision, a little bit here and a little bit there. He had just been through months of tests to figure out what was going on inside his body.įirst some dizziness, and some significant memory loss. The news on the other end of the line wasn’t good. ![]() It was a routine call….checking in on a client about his case….
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |