There are times when you have to do what it takes to ensure that you have a strong grasp of the very methods used by the VA in order to get things done in a certain time frame, by a particular set of rules and regulations– and of course, you have to be thorough. The 38 CFR (Chapter 38 Code of Federal Regulations) is the very literature you need, and is in fact the very source of every piece of information in regards to disability you will ever have to know for sure.
You see, the Chapter 38 CFR tells the VA exactly how to go about creating a solid foundation for disability claims. In order to have the VA listen to your plea or your claim, you have to have a thorough understanding of how to go about reading this document in the first place. Your claim must be within regulations, essentially, and the reason I know this is because my “buddy letters” (which are individually referred to as a Statement In Support Of Claim) are literally considered witness testimony where regulation fails to be congruent with medical documentation. In other words, people who live in close proximity to your daily life will have a means by which to support your claim for disability by stating in their own words how they have noticed a change in your behavior, quality of life, and even change in employment status (in my case, I am unemployed and have been since March 2019). Your parents, your best friends, your social clique, or your spouse and kids aged 18 or older may submit their personal witness to your condition having become worsened by a service-related disability (and this is also very important to have via a “nexus letter”). This is profound for several reasons, and the most important one being that it is subjective by all means (individual cases will be different in scope, severity, duration, and long-term effect).
They only need one of these buddy letter statements from you, but personal witness statements and buddy letters will only take you a certain distance to get you to a certain level of disability.
Another highly essential piece of information would actually be medical documentation through the VA or from medical records from your personal care physician added to your VA medical record. Remember, the medical documentation you add to your case is a must, BUT it has to be new information beyond a certain date. For example, on July 3rd, 2019, the VA proposed a reduction to my already-existing 50% disability due to a bad C&P (compensation and pension) exam. There were no range of motion measurements taken at this examination– there were only notes added to a DBQ (Disability Benefits Questionnaire). Further documentation I needed must have been new evidence of worsening quality of life or service related conditions after the third of July, because all of the medical evidence prior to that date was already considered when the proposal was drafted. I know it takes a few weeks to get to the doctor to grab more evidence, but this is where buddy letters can help. I actually happen to require a spinal fusion, which is something considerably serious, and this was information I acquired through speaking to the neurosurgeon within my 60 day time limit because of follow-up appointments to both of my epidural injections showed that the injections had failed to provide me with the necessary pain relief I would need to hold a steady job or live a better quality of life.
If you are seeking the medical evidence route, I would highly recommend that you speak to your primary care physician if he or she happens to be outside of the VA system. Ask if you can obtain records of your visitations, notes taken by the doctor, and anything else related to your condition for which you would like to obtain disability. Take these records to your VA facility, to the Release of Information office, and ask if these pieces of evidence can be added to your VA medical record. I was able to because it is medically related to my condition and it is a good idea to have everything recorded.
On a related note– make absolutely sure you familiarize yourself with the 38 CFR. I started this post by mentioning this, but what I didn’t do was link you to the main page where you can browse for your condition. Follow this link to view the main hub of the disability rating page. You will see the following image:
I would recommend starting with Subpart A, just to get a feel for the content you’re about to navigate. You see the links in the image above? Those are the links you will have to browse around for your condition, and you will find that information in Subpart B. Here is where I found the information for lower back pain:
I don’t have a drawing program, but in the above image you can see that the musculoskeletal system covers a wide range of joints in your body.
I would recommend that you take the time to ensure you get a strong grasp of the information before filing for an increase, because a strong understanding will be essential to your case. It is a bit of a difficult challenge for those of you who might not have the technological prowess to browse around, but I am sure if you read the sections five to ten times, you will gain a realistic and a stronger understanding of the information.
I had to find out where on the documentation I could find out where my particular disability was, and so I went here to the numerical index:
I then scrolled around the headlines to find out where intervertebral disc syndrome would be located on this page. Since it is numerical, it won’t be very hard to find, because in the proposal to reduce disability, they specifically outline it in the packet they send you. Make sure you pay attention to these numbers because they are reference points.
Anyhow, I found it in the numerical index and highlighted it for you:
WHY?
The reason I am writing this blog post is because lawyers are expensive. Pro bono lawyers do exist, and it makes it easier for anyone who might not know law (myself included) to do the hard work for them. Since I decided I will not rely on someone who will end up charging thousands upon thousands of dollars to make the necessary research available to them for free, and since veteran representatives will only have the ability to do so much for you, I figured I would take on the challenge myself.
Please take note of this: I am not a lawyer, and I have never taken a class on law. I have never studied law. I have never taken a course on law. I am absolutely grossly incompetent in law. However, I know that laws to exist, and instead of actually becoming a lawyer, you can simply know how federal law applies to you through the VA. Since the VA utilizes a federal code, which is freely available for anyone to read (if anyone chooses to read and do their due diligence), the resource is actually right in front of you. It takes work to gain results, and lawyers charge outstanding fees to do exactly this.
I decided to read it myself, and it turns out that a free resource for you is actually very priceless. It could earn you disability compensation that you deserve as a veteran of the United States Armed Forces. You chose to defend the country, and now you must choose to defend yourself. If done properly (which I still probably got wrong, and I will report to you exactly what and when it happens, if it happens at all), you will have saved yourself thousands of dollars in fees, and you will have gained a significantly deeper knowledge of how to go about the process.
If you happen to be a caretaker for someone with visual problems due to service related injuries, then this is for you to read as well, if the veteran is less than 100% disabled or needs special disability compensation (I haven’t read anything on that, so this might be a future post). In fact, this does not apply to just the VA. The Social Security Administration has its own regulations by which to abide, and there is no guarantee that you will be approved by them. I decided to forego them until I can see what I can do about the VA, which might have been a bit of a mistake, but I’ll take the hit for it. If the methods I described above have been any success, I will be able to repeat the entire process using the Social Security methods.
Look, another reason that I have made this post is because I want for any and all readers to understand that if you are absolutely having a hard time with the VA, all you really have to do is read the very information presented in the Code of Federal Regulations and decipher it to your level of understanding (I know it took me a bit to grasp the very details, but the information is plainly in sight and they will tell you they told you so). You have a level of experience in your job of multiple years that others simply cannot touch, and the same can be said of anything. If you read the sections which apply to you specifically, and you read them several times over the course of a few weeks, you can definitely avoid the lawyer fees if you do it right. I would urge you to understand how to navigate the information first and foremost, for your reference, so you can quickly recall the information at your discretion.
As of now, December 9th, 2019, I am still awaiting an answer and a decision or other proposal. Within the next 10 days I will be speaking to my primary care physician about obtaining surgery through another entity outside of, but covered by, the VA.
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