Dealing With Pain After A VA Injury Denial?

18 May 2016
 Categories: Law, Blog

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Veterans who suffered due to military service are entitled to support, and the Veterans Affairs (VA) clinics, hospitals and administrative offices exist to assist them. If you're a veteran with legitimate conditions caused by military service, it can be daunting to be turned away after hearing about the promise of support, but there are still amazing techniques and even more amazing professionals out there that can make things right. Take a look at a few post-denial techniques that could boost the success of your claim. 

Why Would A Legitimate Claim Be Refused At All?

The VA has to filter out fraud in order to preserve benefits for the veterans who deserve them. All veterans with an other-than-dishonorable discharge are entitled to the standard level of medical care from the VA, as well as a few other free services, but the enhanced benefits and monetary compensation from disability ratings create a cost that might not be sustainable. The costs from overpaying due to fraud and clerical mistakes, as well as other issues, could be used to better serve veterans and the nation at large.

Because of increasing pressure to more strictly filter out fraudulent claims, your claim may be under increased scrutiny. The service-connection path has to be clear and without much doubt, meaning you'll need documentation showing when the event happened, how the military is related and if you're suffering to the point of needing disability compensation.

Unfortunately, there's no single document that shows exactly what a veteran needs to prove in the eyes of claims officials, and every veteran has different issues. Your claim may be simply missing so much information that the VA wants you to start over with guidance, or the evidence present isn't enough to prove your point.

Techniques For Building A Stronger Claim

The first thing to understand is that personal statements aren't enough. That doesn't mean your word is worthless, as you still need to explain your issue and work with medical or psychological professionals to get to the bottom of your condition, but you'll need documents from those same professionals so that claims officials can approve your statements.

After a denial, your first trip should be to a legal professional, like http://www.lawofficecolorado.com, and medical professional. A personal injury attorney is a good choice because of their experiences with injury law and pointing out liability, which is necessary for showing that the military is liable for your condition. Although the VA provides a certification process for its specific system, you can branch out to other injury law-experienced lawyers if the VA experience is not to your liking.

Although you may be more knowledgeable with what happened to you than others, an attorney can do a better job of searching through your history, listening to your statements and devising a claim plan that the VA officials may be more willing to agree with.

The attorney may also have connections with medical professionals who understand claims systems. General practice doctors and specialists are undoubtedly skilled at their profession and trained to perform for your health, but that doesn't mean they know how to point out exact issues for a legal claim. With a claim system-experienced medical professional, you can look forward to documents that clearly lay out the evidence and opinions in your favor, rather than simply allowing claims officials and VA medical professionals to make their own assumptions without a word in your favor.

Contact a personal injury attorney to discuss other ways to strengthen your claim.