Our experienced VA disability attorneys at Stone Rose Law can help West Virginia veterans by providing free assistance in preparing, filing, and tracking your initial or supplemental VA benefits claim. We can also help you determine which West Virginia disabled veterans benefits you can claim in addition to any VA disability benefits you receive.
Call Stone Rose Law today at (480) 498-8998 to discuss your West Virginia VA benefits claims.
Veterans who have service-related injuries that they sustained or made worse during their service are eligible for healthcare and monthly compensation benefits as part of the VA disability program.
Even if you receive a 0% VA disability rating with no monthly compensation payment, you are still eligible for other valuable veterans’ services. These include medical benefits, VA educational benefits, mental health counseling, and even VA home loan eligibility.
The VA maintains a medical center in Clarksburg and county VA clinics in Marietta, Parkersburg, and Gassaway.
The quickest and easiest way to apply for VA benefits is to apply online. You can also submit your completed application to your local VA Regional Office by mail, fax, or in person. In West Virginia, the VA regional office is located in Huntington.
Regardless of which filing option you choose, you must prove three things to receive disability compensation:
To qualify as a veteran eligible to receive VA benefits, your active duty service must fall within a time period the VA recognizes. You can usually establish this through your military service records, including your DD Form 214.
If you’ve received a dishonorable discharge or an other-than-honorable discharge, it may be better to first see if you can work with an experienced VA benefits attorney to improve your discharge by appealing to the VA.
The VA defines a disability as a current physical or mental illness or impairment that your active duty military service either caused or made worse.
You may be eligible for compensation from the VA if your service-related disability makes you less than 100% able-bodied, which can be proven with medical records.
The VA decides whether you have a service-connected disability on a case-by-case basis. Your service medical records and any records of post-service medical treatment you have received will be part of the claims evidence the VA will consider.
While certain medical conditions, known as presumed disabilities, do not require proof of a military service connection, most conditions still require evidence of a service connection.
The VA rejects many disability claims because they lack sufficient evidence to create a service connection.
One of our West Virginia VA disability attorneys at Stone Rose Law can help you gather all the documents and evidence you need to clear this potential obstacle.
What follows are some specific medical conditions the VA will consider in addition to disabilities that arose directly because of a service-connected disabling event.
A latent condition is one you had when you entered military service, but has not yet become disabling.
If your latent condition becomes worse after you leave the service, the VA will decide whether something happened to you while serving to aggravate it.
Another way you can receive a service-connected disability is if it comes from a separate disability that itself is service-connected.
For example, your doctor might diagnose you as having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on a traumatic event you experienced while in service. If your PTSD treatment includes drugs that have a side effect of contributing to significant weight gain, this additional weight could eventually cause you to be diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.
These events make it possible to trace a secondary service connection by showing that the PTSD treatment caused your diabetes.
The VA will deny your claim if your injury, illness, or disabling condition results from doing something unrelated to a service-connected condition.
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