THE VA HAS PROPOSED NEW PTSD REGULATIONS, EFFECTIVE JULY 13, 2010.  THE SUMMARY PROVIDED IN THIS BLOG ENTRY MAY BE AFFECTED BY THOSE REGULATIONS!!!

CLICK HERE TO READ ANOTHER ATTIG LAW FIRM VETERANS’ BENEFITS BLOG ENTRY ABOUT THESE NEW REGULATIONS.

CONTACT A VETERANS’ BENEFITS ATTORNEY WHO HAS HANDLED CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY COMPENSATION FOR VETERANS WITH PTSD IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS HOW THESE NEW REGULATIONS WILL AFFECT YOUR CLAIM.

This is the second installment in our series titled: “VA Benefits: How to Prove your Claim for Veterans Disability due to Service-Connected PTSD”. You can read the first installment by clicking here.

The topic covered in this installment is the medical evidence a veteran (or that veteran’s advocate, attorney or representative) needs to secure disability benefits for PTSD. As you recall from the original post, medical evidence of a current diagnosis is the first thing the Veteran needs to prove in his/her claim for PTSD disability benefits.

This post will address the two big issues in this element of a PTSD claim: how much medical evidence is enough, and what type of medical evidence is needed.

How much evidence you need to prove depends on when you filed your claim. If you have a Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision issued after March 7, 1997, the veteran need only show that it is “at least as likely as not” that you have the PTSD condition. Prior to March 7, 1997, the standard was that the veteran needed a “clear diagnosis” of PTSD – this is no longer the proper standard. (If you have a BVA decision after March 7, 1997, which denies your PTSD claim on the basis of the lack of a “clear diagnosis” of PTSD, you should consider contacting a Veteran Service Organization or contact a VA Benefits attorney – the VA may have committed error in denying your claim).

The type of evidence necessary is this: an examination by a doctor, preferably a psychiatrist, and a written report. That report should discuss the doctor’s medical opinion that the incident you allege triggered your PTSD was medically sufficient to support a diagnosis of PTSD and that your symptoms were adequate enough for the doctor to diagnose PTSD. This gets a little tricky – you still need to prove the link between the stressor event and the current condition, and your doctor’s testimony that they are linked may not be enough. This is because the question of “linkage” is a question of fact for the VA, not a medical matter.

If the VA doubts the medical evidence you provided, it must follow one of two courses of action. It can either a) set aside its doubts and accept your medical evidence, or b) seek clarification of the portions of the report that cause it to doubt the medical evidence. If the VA does not get the clarification it needs, it can either a) return the report for more clarification or b) obtain independent medical evidence concerning the portions of the report the VA doubts or needs clarified.

Now that you now what (and how much) information you need to provide to VA, what does the doctor need to put in the report to aid your claim. It is imperative that your doctor follow the PTSD criteria in the DSM-IV; using an older DSM (DSM III and DSM III-R) is going to delay your claim and require medical reevaluation under the DSM-IV. This is because the criteria in the DSM-III and III-R are significantly different than the DSM-IV criteria.

The change to the PTSD criteria in DSM-IV benefits veterans in many ways, and leads to an interesting point. The VA used to use the DSM III and DSM III-R. In 1996, the VA adopted DSM-IV as the standard for evaluating mental health impairments. If your claim for disability benefits due to PTSD was rejected prior to 1996, and you have a diagnosis of PTSD dated after 1994, you may be able to reopen your claim for benefits and have it evaluated under the new criteria. At the very least, you should be able to file a new claim for benefits. You should consider consulting an attorney if this issue sounds like it might apply to you.

If you have any questions about the medical evidence you need to support a claim for VA disability benefits for PTSD,  contact a VA Benefits Attorney.

The Attig Law Firm represents U.S. Veterans who have been denied disability benefits for injuries that resulted from their military service. The Firm currently represents peace-time and war-time veterans of all branches of the military, at all levels of the claim process (VA Regional Office, Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and the Court of Appeals for Veterans’ Claims). Contact the Attig Law Firm if you would like to discuss your claim for disability benefits before the VA.

No post on this website is meant to be legal advice and the posts on this website do not serve as a substitute for legal advice. Information is power, and we are providing this information to give you, the Veteran, some power. This information is not widely or easily accessible to Veterans.  The information presented on this website is a general description of law and processes; each case is different, and there may be approaches listed here that are not accurate or applicable to your case. Likewise, their may be information that is applicable to your case that is not provided on this Veterans Disability Compensation Blog.

It is very important that we note that each and every Veteran’s claim is different. Just because we were able to secure substantial past-due benefits for one Veteran does not mean or imply that we will be able to do so for you.   In some cases, we may not be able to secure you any financial compensation due to the facts of your particular case.

It is best to consult with a lawyer familiar with VA Disability claims and benefits or a Veterans Service Organization to examine your particular case.  If you would like to discuss your VA claim with a lawyer who handles VA Benefits and Disability Appeals, contact the Attig Law Firm, PLLC, for a free consultation with a VA Benefits attorney.

The Attig Law Firm, PLLC, represents Veterans in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma (and all around the nation) in their claims for disability compensationfrom the Department of Veterans Affairs.