Do You Qualify for Social Security Disability?

Working Through Veteran Injury Compensation Denials

15 January 2015

Deann Miles

The Veterans Affairs Disability and Compensation system can be difficult to navigate, especially if your injuries were close to your end of active duty service. To cut costs and ensure that only qualified disabilities are receiving compensation, your documentation must prove that your injuries happened during or as a result of military service. If you've been denied, don't quit; appeal the decision and find out what information you may be missing with a few documentation and fact-finding techniques.

Why Do Denials Happen To Injured People?

When you're injured in the military, there's a lot more involved than visiting medical. Your medical record should hold information on the injury and the severity of the damage. For some veterans, the injury may be considered temporary and recoverable. Unfortunately, old injuries can resurface with new complications after you leave the military.

The military has a culture of working through adversity. While there are many level-headed service-members who are more understanding about needing medical attention and rest, many service-members find themselves ignoring slight pains and working through their duty quite successfully.

Combined with the stress of service, lacking a full recovery and the different work environments in the civilian world, many veterans find themselves injured and unable to keep up with the change of pace. Unfortunately, if your past broken leg, bullet wound or concussion was written off as a small problem, you may see a denial on your compensation and pension paperwork.

You may not have used clear and concise language about your current problems. With such a large volume of backlogged applications and appeals, a claims analyst isn't likely to see the problem unless you clearly say, "This problem is linked to the injury on this date, as listed in this part of the medical record."

Creating An Injury Map With Records

If you weren't given a medical discharge, you'll need to have the documentation to support every injury with dates included. To do this, you may need to fill in a few gaps.

For your specific injury, try to remember any past events that could have caused it. Look for falls, combat wounds, accidents at work or training mishaps. You may have to venture outside of your medical record and search for service record entries or even get testimony from others involved in the incident.

Time is of the essence when it comes to making such claims. If you're filing a claim years after active duty service, it's easy to say that you could have been injured as a civilian. Even if you don't have all of the evidence when leaving the military, put in an immediate claim to show that you're currently having problems.

A denial is fine at this point, as the Department of Veterans Affairs understands that not all new veterans have a deep understanding of the situation. For help with appeals and understanding the reasons behind your denial, get help from a personal injury lawyer, like those at Rosato Law Offices.

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