Three Brief Notes About PTSD Claims

Marines of BLT 1/3 USS Iwo Jima December 1967

 

The VA PTSD Claim Process

  A Comp Exam must cover your war issues or it is invalid and you may request another exam.

  If the doctor sees you for five minutes and blows you off without probing the issues that are causing your PTSD, this is an invalid Comp Exam and cannot be used to determine service connection. If you would get turned down on the claim, immediately disagree because of an Invalid Comp Exam and request another one.

   Remember the “Reasonable Doubt Clause”.

  If you say an event happened, but you can’t prove it by service records (occurs often), and the VA can’t prove it didn’t happen, they can’t just call you a liar. They must give you the benefit of the doubt and rule in your favor.

   Combat PTSD is a well-grounded claim.

  You may often hear that a claim must be well-grounded before it can be considered. If you were in combat and have the PTSD symptoms, this is an automatic well-grounded claim. Don’t let anyone tell you different. You also don’t need a diagnosis of PTSD to open the claim. You can open a claim at any time, then be diagnosed.

 

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