Delayed Or Denied VA Claim? You May Need An Attorney

Dealing with Veterans Affairs can be a long and frustrating journey, especially while suffering from terrible pain or other conditions. Unfortunately, with delays still plaguing the VA system and a confusing claims filing process ahead, your initial claim may take months to get an answer--even if that answer is a "no" with no other information. As you look for a response from the VA or struggle to figure out what's wrong with your claim, keep a few traits of the VA system in mind as you seek legal assistance and additional proof.

Difficulty Depends On How You Left The Military

You may be reading this as a veteran who left the military with a few aches and pains that were caused by your military duty. There are some injuries that must be trudged through regardless of your suffering, either because you're so close to getting out of the military or your specific duty just can't let you go.

A medical discharge could complicate your career and chances for retirement, so leaving the military with an honorable discharge is often the best path. Unfortunately, you lose the benefit of having a clear statement of "Yes, this servicemember has a disabling condition. Give disability benefits immediately" in your discharge paperwork. 

You may not have had the chance to go through medical review. Ending your military career could have happened after a sobering experience with near death or internal conflicts that you can't continue to deal with. No matter the reason, being out of the military with injuries means that you need to be assisted by your country.

If you're a tough fighter who refused to complain about your worst problems, the lack of documentation may make your VA ordeal much harder than it should be.

Why Would A Legitimate Claim Be Denied?

Unfortunately, you have to prove that you're suffering with some lengthy paperwork--an annoyance, but nothing that a veteran isn't used to. In a perfect situation, you'll have a documented report in your medical record for every single injury injury or condition that you're suffering from.

This makes it highly likely that you'll be given a disability rating, but if your claim paperwork is written incorrectly or if evidence is missing, you may have to deal with a denial or a request for more information. After all, how can they know about your condition if your information doesn't show your condition properly?

The lack of information may be an honest mistake caused by forgetting to add some of your medical record information, filling out the wrong forms or not knowing what to complain about. Many veterans miss out on some of their potential disability ratings because they didn't write down their problems ahead of time and instead tried to list a few conditions from quick memory.

You need to submit information quickly, but so quickly that you forget about some of your problems. Take the time to think about how you feel, how life is different because of certain conditions and what you need help with. If you've been denied due to a lack of information, get in contact with a personal injury attorney to make the claim cover more information.

For more information, contact Conway Pauley & Johnson PC Attys or a similar firm.