Do you really need a Nexus Letter or In-Service Event for a VA Disability Compensation Claim?

Описание: What is a Nexus letter? A VA Nexus letter is a detailed report created by a neutral, third-party doctor that explicitly links a veteran's disability or current medical condition to one or more events that occurred during their military service.

The In-Service Injury, Event, or Condition
Requirement #2: An in-service injury, event, or medical condition
The veteran’s current disability must have been caused, aggravated, or somehow contributed to by an in-service disease, injury or event. The standard used by the VA is that it is “at least likely as not” that the in-service condition, injury or event caused the veteran’s current disability. Sometimes we hear a misconception that this event or condition has to be combat related, happen while out in the field, or be caused by some training accident. It does not. In fact, the disease, event or injury does not necessarily even have to be related to military duties. As long as it happens while the veteran is on active duty and does not involve some misconduct on the part of the veteran, it likely counts.

What must the veteran show to prove the in-service injury, event, or medical condition?
The veteran’s own statement that he/she experienced an event or an injury is generally not enough. The VA will weigh the veteran’s statement against other evidence, including whether there is an absence of any government record recording the event. That said, the veteran’s own detailed statement is the best place to start.

Pro Tip: Use the evidence to help tell the story. When putting together an argument on this topic, we typically start with a detailed statement (5W’s and then some) from the veteran. We then use all the other evidence we’ve gathered (read this article) as evidence to support the veteran’s statement.

Remember, the standard is “as likely as not.” In other words, the veteran must demonstrate, using evidence, that it is at least as likely as not that the event, injury or condition occurred in service. Where there is conflicting evidence, the VA will weigh the positive and negative evidence.

The evidence required depends on the condition
A veteran seeking service connection for bursitis of the hip caused by a dislocated hip after a bad parachute jump will need evidence of the in-service hip injury.
A veteran seeking service connection for lung cancer due to an asbestos exposure will need to submit evidence of in-service exposure to asbestos fibers.
A veteran seeking service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder will have to submit evidence of a traumatic event.
The VA cannot reject a veteran’s statement, in the absence of other evidence showing the in-service event, injury or disease, solely because there is no other evidence. With regard to a medical condition, the VA must be able to point to other evidence that if the veteran indeed suffered from the claimed medical event, it would be documented in the service records. Similarly, the VA can generally reject a veteran’s statement of events if it can show that were the veteran’s statement true there would be some corroborating piece of evidence in the veteran’s service record.

Confusing, perhaps, but the thing to remember is gather your evidence and build your own case. Service records and service treatment records are the first place to start. But what if the event, injury or condition isn’t reflected there?

Buddy statements. Lay statements by fellow servicemembers relaying their observations of the event, the veteran’s symptoms, or the veteran’s exposure. Just like the veteran’s statement, they should be as detailed as possible. How do they know the veteran? Flesh out the 5W’s of the event or injury. Describe the frequency, duration and severity of symptoms.
Ship’s deck logs
Safety or incident investigations
Unit history records
Newspaper articles regarding an event (e.g. a plane crash)
Letters, e-mails, Facebook messages, etc. sent at or around the time of the incident or relaying symptoms of the condition
Get creative!
Special rules apply to claims for disability caused by a Military Sexual Trauma (MST), which you can read about here. There are also two very important exceptions for events which occur in combat and illnesses presumed to be caused by certain exposures.

Exceptions
There are two exceptions to this evidence rule. First, the rules are greatly relaxed if the in-service disease, injury or event occurred during combat. Second, some illnesses are presumed to be connected to a veteran’s service if other conditions are met. It is difficult to understate the importance of these exceptions. They remove what is sometimes a huge hurdle in proving a veteran’s claim.

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