Switching Angles for VA Appeal

After being denied benefits from a Veterans Affairs (VA) claims office, you will have little choice but to change the way your claim is designed. You can appeal the decision as many times as you want, but it's in your best interests to get everything as close to perfect as possible to get the support you need. If you want to reach victory sooner, here's a bit of claim-system insight to help you figure out what you need and how a lawyer can help.

Battling the Fraud Filter

The VA has fairly strict fraud-prevention policies to keep money and resources available for legitimately suffering veterans. It's no secret that veterans with real issues who need help are declined from time to time, but to prevent fraudsters from taking the money that you and your fellow veterans deserve, there are a few traits that your claim must match.

First, your injury or condition must have been caused by military service. This means that injuries before and after your military service are not eligible, but there's a complex world of conditions that happen during military service that could complicate things. Hereditary conditions aren't covered unless a mistake is made by the claims system or you've kept the condition's origin a close secret.

Some conditions have no clear cause, meaning that they can't be specifically blamed on military service. This doesn't mean that the VA won't approve your claim, but it does mean that you'll need some strong proof that borders on original medical research to get your claim approved. A professional is necessary in these cases.

Second, you'll need to prove that you're still suffering from the problem. The VA won't give you any benefits if you're not currently suffering or can't medically prove a continued problem. At most, you'll get a 0% rating, meaning that you'll get VA-provided medical care and referrals but not the monetary compensation you'll need for any economic hardship caused by your condition.

Getting a Lawyer for the Right Evidence

A denial means that you've either done something wrong or run into an especially difficult claims office. In either case, an injury lawyer is necessary to create an iron-clad argument that can break through most doubt—or discover wrongdoing.

Injury lawyers have experience in looking through the circumstances of an injury and comparing it to the facts of your life and the claim system. As a military veteran, you've likely encountered a lot of different situations that you weren't familiar with or may not have known about.

From uniform burn pits that release chemicals in the form of dangerous inhalants to foreign countries with different health risks, there may be some shred of evidence from an event in your past that you didn't know about. If you know exactly what caused the problem, the lawyer can help by pinning down the information with the proper links and documentation for a better claim appeal.

Contact an injury lawyer to get targeted attention for your VA disability claim.

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