Making successful VA compensation claims is dependent on several factors including – and perhaps most importantly – establishing a service connection or “nexus” between a veteran’s current disability and a precipitating incident during the veteran’s period of military service. The main cause of denied VA claims is a lack of medical evidence used to provide proof of this nexus.
The VA does its part to make sure veterans are aware of the need for medical evidence supporting their disability claims. If a veteran’s records do not include medical documentation, the VA will work to provide a medical opinion for the veteran’s case.
However, it is important for veterans and their advocates to remember that no matter how obvious the link between a veteran’s service injury and current disability may be, a lack of medical evidence that clearly defines the connection will sink the case. It’s important that you retain an experienced VA disability attorney who will be aware of this requirement and will work to provide the proper medical documentation of the service connection.
Why Is Medical Evidence Needed to Prove a Nexus?
Although veterans may testify about their symptoms and the service-related incidents that led to these symptoms during hearings for VA compensation claims, the fact that these veterans are not medical experts makes this testimony invalid when it comes to proving the service connection. But a veteran’s evidence, also known as lay evidence when the veteran is not a medical expert, can be heard in a case as long as it is deemed “competent evidence.” This entails that the veteran be deemed capable of identifying the medical condition in question (this occurs when the condition does not require specialized expertise for diagnosis). However, this lay evidence can only be used to establish a diagnosis, not the connection between diagnosis and an inciting service-related incident.
The importance of providing sufficient medical evidence to prove the nexus between your current disability and a service-related medical incident cannot be overstated. Since most VA compensation claims are lost due to lack of sufficient medical documentation of the nexus, it is crucial to work with an experienced VA disability attorney to help you gather the evidence necessary to win your case.
Contact Marc Whitehead, an experienced Texas disability attorney, for a free consultation when you are ready to get all your questions answered.