When you are establishing a health condition as service-connected with the VA in order to receive disability compensation, you will need to do the following:
- Demonstrate hard medical evidence supporting your diagnosis.
- Show documentation of the incidents or circumstances through which the injury was sustained.
You will also be required to directly link your health condition with the injuring event by the opinion of an informed medical professional. There are no short cuts in this process; the VA won’t assume a connection on your behalf.
To help, many veterans request a nexus letter from an appropriate medical professional. The purpose of a nexus letter is to establish service-connection for a disability.
With any letter submitted in a VA disability claim in Texas, there’s a right way and a wrong way for them to be written. Important things to keep in mind when you are trying to obtain a letter include:
- The author should be a certified authority on the type of disability you are claiming.
- The author needs to have reviewed all pertinent medical and service records before signing the letter. This should be disclosed in the letter.
- The letter should be concise and to the point, but contain all necessary details.
- Any claims made in the letter should be firmly grounded in your corresponding medical records.
- If the author is a doctor, it is preferred that they’ve recently examined you.
Establishing service-connection can be one of the most difficult parts of the VA disability benefits claim process. If you have questions or have already received an unfavorable decision, consider reviewing your case with a Texas VA lawyer. Call the experienced legal team of Morgan Weisbrod at 800-800-6353today.
by Paul B. Burkhalter Managing Partner of Morgan Weisbrod , Board Certified in Social Security Disability Law.