Veterans Disability Info Blog

As a veterans’ disability lawyer who represents the victims of military sexual assault, I know how frustrating it can be when VA denies a claim for PTSD. The trauma and devastation of being sexually assaulted often causes deep shame and guilt.  There is often a corresponding hesitancy to report the attack.  […]

On January 7, 2015 a gunman entered the El Paso, TX VA medical clinic and shot a doctor and himself.  The news reports of the incident did not reveal a motive or the identities of the parties.  It is a tragedy and the families of the victim and the shooter […]

More times than I can remember I have listened to the concerns of veterans about the VA using a non-physician to perform the VA medical exam. I agree wholeheartedly with the concerns that the VA medical exams are less than thorough and are performed by medical practitioners with minimal training. […]

I recently read Secretary Robert A. McDonald’s Op Ed piece in the October 24, 2014 Baltimore Sun. I commend Secretary McDonald for his proactive approach to tackling the significant problems in the VA. As a veterans disability lawyer I keep a close watch on the important statements coming from the […]

If you have followed my articles in the past you know that I believe in developing a client’s case to the optimum with good private medical experts. Indeed, the top practitioners in the veterans bar understand this. That is why some firms spend anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 per year […]

Your claims file contains all communications and documents that refer to your VA claims. Also included in the claims file are your military records if you are claiming a disability, all compensation and pension exam reports, letters from VA, VA decision documents such as rating decisions, statements of the case, […]

This is Part 5 in a series of articles dealing with strategies a veteran can use to refute VA medical exams. In Part 4, I addressed situations where the VA examiner fails to consider your statements about what happened in service. Today, I want to discuss with you what happens […]

This is Part IV in a series of articles dealing with strategies a veteran can use to refute VA medical exams. As I have noted in prior articles as a veterans disability lawyer representing disabled veterans nationwide, I have had ample opportunity to review literally thousands of C&P exam reports. […]

In Parts I and II of this series on how to refute VA exams or VA medical opinions, we discussed situations where the VA examiner relied on inaccurate facts or failed to provide adequate reasons for his conclusion. In today’s installment I am going to focus on the VA’s failure […]

In Part I of this series on how to refute VA exams or VA medical opinions, we discussed the importance of examining the factual assumptions upon which the VA examiner relied in reaching his conclusion against service connection. To reiterate, if the VA examiner assumed inaccurate facts, then his opinion […]