Supporting Veterans With Difficult VA Claims
Dealing with the Veterans Affairs (VA) disability claim system is no difficult task. The information required can be confusing and a lot of the evidence needed may be missing if your previous tours of duty lacked decent administrative organization. If you're working on appealing a claim decision or haven't seen any movement on your claim for a few months, take time to understand what the problem could be and how an attorney could help.
Service-Connection Can Be A Complex Issue
At the core of the VA compensation system is the service connection test. A service-connected condition is any condition that was caused during your time in the military. The category also covers pre-existing conditions that became significantly worse, although the criteria for what constitutes "significantly" changes on a case-by-case basis.
Your claim needs to prove that your condition is service connected. This means that any documentation you have needs to either be from a medical report or other official documentation with a date during your military service.
Such documentation is easy for veterans who were able to reach a major military installation after their injury. Unfortunately, some injuries and conditions happen during times when paperwork-managing personnel are not in the area or not equipped to register information, such as combat zones or remote duty locations. Although it makes sense that you should be able to document the information once you return to the United States, many veterans that begin to heal or stabilize visually may not get the detailed documentation necessary.
Not all veterans are prepared for the VA process. Many veterans leave the military with no information about what it means to transition to military life, and may not even think that the information is required. There are veterans who also believe that they are entitled to medical care after discharge, which is a highly debated subject that even includes promises from recruiters.
If you don't have matching paperwork for your condition, you'll need to work quickly and consider consulting an attorney for the rest of your disability efforts.
An Injury Attorney Has Proof-Management Experience
The good news about the VA disability system is that you're not alone. The VA understands that mistakes happen and that many legitimately suffering veterans are simply lacking proof, but they need to continue filtering out fraudulent claims to keep funds available for legitimate sufferers. An attorney can help you build an appeal that is more legitimate.
You don't need to find a specific Veterans Affairs claim attorney, as the VA system can be quite similar to any injury disability system. An injury attorney has experience with combing through historical records, interview important service members from your military past and developing appeal language that explains your case better to the VA.
Injury attorney teams may also have access to medical professionals who know what to look for in a claim. Instead of dealing with the long wait times associated with the VA system, a civilian medical team can examine you to get the proof you need.
Contact an attorney to begin planning a VA claim or appeal that stands out more, or to bring some urgency to a claim that hasn't had movement in months.
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