Administration C & P Exam ~ What You Need To Know First

You’d probably expect me to recommend consulting with an Accredited Attorney BEFORE going to a Compensation & Pension Exam. But, there are IMPORTANT considerations for this. The best way for me to demonstrate this is by way of an actual client example:

“Jane Veteran” was discharged from the military in 2010. She saw combat and was directly engaged on multiple occasions. At the time of discharge, she “just wanted to get home.” Making a claim for a mental injury or disability was not a priority at that time. As time went by, she struggled with nightmares, insomnia, flashbacks, physical and mental fatigue. “Jane” wanted to put the trauma she experienced in service behind her. But she couldn’t. It was, as she put it, “eating [her] alive.” She had trouble keeping a job. She had trouble in her relationships. She began to socially withdraw and isolate herself.

Then, “Jane” encountered a fellow veteran from her time in the service. He shared that he too was having a hard time back in civilian life but that he’d been helped by the treatment he had received from the VA–and that he was now receiving monthly benefits from the VA as compensation for his disability. He urged her to make a claim.

So, five years after her discharge, “Jane” does so for several specific disabilities and begins treatment at her local Veterans medical facility for (among other things) PTSD. She is evaluated by a doctor the VA scheduled her to see. The exam was brief. To her surprise, the VA eventually decided that her claim for PTSD should be denied because there had been no “clinical diagnosis” of her PTSD. (This is the reason frequently given by the VA for denying a claim for such a disability.) “Jane” does the right thing by taking the first step in her appeal–filing a Notice of Disagreement (NOD) with the VA’s denial of her PTSD claim. She hires an Accredited Attorney (us) to represent her in her appeal.

Soon thereafter, “Jane” receives notice from the VA that it has again scheduled her to be seen by an ‘independent’ doctor. The appointment letter is similar to the one for the first doctor—the one that the VA relied upon to deny her claim. But she knows she has to go or her appeal ends if she doesn’t show up.

We carefully review with “Jane” the areas that the VA doctor should cover in order for the evaluation to be fair and unbiased. This time the VA sees it her way and she is awarded 50% in disability following this evaluation.

We believe that “Jane’s” preparation—both mentally and informationally—helped in achieving that outcome. (Of course, it’s possible that the VA recognizes she has competent counsel and they need to get real on the merits of the claim.) We are still appealing “Jane’s” claim because the Effective Date they gave her (for when her compensation STARTED) was the date of the LAST evaluation, not the date she made her claim.

If you see your situation reflected here, contact us for a free case evaluation. My staff and I are here to serve you.