Does Being Labeled A Malingerer Hurt My Ptsd Case
Unfortunately, bias against the malingering veteran still exists among VA examiners. This bias can hurt those whose PTSD has legitimately gotten worse. Therefore, it is just as important to use the tips in this section during any subsequent PTSD exams. You must be prepared to submit evidence that your PTSD has gotten worse to back up the increased rating claim.
NOTE: In the early 2000s, the VA published a Best Practice Manual for PTSD Compensation and Pension Examinations. This manual gives very technical, detailed instructions for clinicians administering C& P exams for PTSD, including the tests used for malingering, such as the MMPI-2. It is unclear how much weight VA C& P examiners give this manual since it has not been updated in over 10 years.
Be that as it may, VA has not officially repealed it. Also note that because the manual pre-dates the publication of the DSM-V, its analysis revolves around the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-IV, including the Global Assessment of Functioning scale.
How Do I Increase My Va Disability Rating
It is very difficult to obtain a 100% rating for your disability from the VA but is doable. You will need to provide enough medical evidence to the VA that your disability has worsened, or that you have developed a subsequent disability that can be directly linked to your time in service, or is secondary to your granted conditions.
As you age a condition can grow worse and moreover, it is likely to happen. The VA is aware of this and accepts requests to review your rating with evidence your condition is declining over time.
The VA will need proof that your condition is worsening. Some useful evidence you will need to prove your case is your medical records which show some of the following:
· Hospitalizations
How To Increase Your Ptsd Va Rating From 70% To 100%
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a very common condition among veterans. Symptoms of PTSD can often be debilitating and interfere with a veterans day-to-day life. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers disability benefits for veterans who developed PTSD as a result of their service. Continue reading to learn more about the different percentage rates for VA disability compensation for PTSD and the criteria needed to qualify for them.
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What Qualifies For A 70 Percent Rating
A 70 percent rating is the second-highest tier the VA will award for PTSD. At this tier, a veteran cant lead a normal life in any area of their life, including work, family, and even judgment. They may follow obsessive rituals that interfere with their life, they may have impulse control issues, they might start to neglect their personal hygiene, and they may have suicidal thoughts.
Its very difficult to make the jump from a 70 percent rating to a 100 percent rating. If you feel your 70 percent rating is too low, you need to work to show that your veteran is completely incapable of caring for themselves. Documentation of a permanent institutionalization may be helpful in increasing this rating.
How to get TDIU for PTSD from the VA according to a veterans disability lawyer:
Evaluating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Mental health disabilities typically require C& P exams because of the subjectivity of medical diagnoses. Even if a veteran has a current diagnosis from a medical professional, the VA will typically still require a C& P exam for conditions like anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health disorder that involves flashbacks, nightmares, or intense episodes that are related to and/or caused by a traumatic event. Due to the high number of possibly traumatic events that occur around active military members, a disproportionate number of veterans suffer from this condition. The VA rating for PTSD can range from 0% to 100%, but typically lands around 30%.
PTSD can be especially difficult for the VA to assess. When filing a disability claim for PTSD, its important to be as honest and forthright as possible about symptoms. Providing a clear picture of how the condition is affecting ones life can influence the VAs decisions about compensation.
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Frequently Asked Questions: 100% P& t Ptsd Va Benefits
Does PTSD qualify for disability?
Yes, and many veterans receive VA benefits every month for their PTSD. You need to have a professional diagnosis and prove your condition is service-connected. The average rating is 70%, which means those veterans get $1,663.06 per month for PTSD.
What are 100% Permanent and Total ratings?
100% Permanent and Total ratings are for veterans with disabilities totaling 100% that have conditions that are not expected to improve.
Who is eligible for a 100% Permanent and Total PTSD rating?
Veterans that have severe PTSD that is not expected to improve over the course of their life may be eligible for a 100% Permanent and Total PTSD rating.
What if I was denied a 100% Permanent and Total PTSD rating?
If you were denied a 100% P& T PTSD rating you have one year to appeal from the date on your VA disability Rating Decision letter. If you have waited longer than one year to appeal for a 100% P& T PTSD rating, you can file a new claim.
Will I have to take my claim to the BVA to obtain a 100% P& T PTSD rating?
If you are denied a 100% P& T PTSD rating, your best bet is to appeal and get your claim headed to the Board of Veterans Appeals . Our lawyers like the BVA because we find the panel of judges to understand VA law better than bureaucrats during the application process.
If my appeal for a 100% P& T PTSD rating is approved, will I get back pay?Should I hire a lawyer to receive my 100%P& T PTSD rating?
How Va Disability Ratings Work
Once the VA approves your disability compensation application, they will assign you a disability rating. This rating is expressed as a percentage, and it represents the amount your disability disrupts your ability to live a normal, healthy life. The higher the percentage, the more severe your condition.
In general, VA disability ratings are rounded to the nearest 10 percent for compensation purposes. They can range from 10 percent to 100 percent. Your disability rating will be the primary determining factor when the VA is calculating how much compensation you will receive each month.
Here is a video explaining how the VA combined ratings table works from one of our Veterans Disability Lawyers.
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How Va Disability Pay Affects Your Total Va Compensation
If you receive VA disability for erectile dysfunction, this will increase your overall monthly compensation. If you have been assigned a VA disability rating for ED, this will increase your overall rating.
However, it wont simply be added to your existing rating . The VA uses its rating system to estimate the total disability of a person. Therefore, once your ratings are combined, they will make a higher total rating, but they arent added together directly.
For example, if you already have a 20% disability rating and are assigned another disability rating of 30% for ED, your total VA rating will not be 50%. Instead, it will be somewhat lower.
To work out your total VA rating accurately, we recommend that you use our online VA rating calculator. There you will also be able to see your rates of compensation based on personal circumstances, such as number of dependants.
If you have been assigned a 0% disability rating and are receiving the Special Monthly Compensation, this is a stand-alone amount. It will not influence your other ratings or compensation amount.
What Is Ptsd According To The Va
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event. Deployment in a war zone, combat, training accidents, and military sexual trauma may lead to PTSD, the VAs National Center for PTSD says.
The VA considers a vet to have experienced a traumatic event if he or she suffered a serious injury, personal or sexual trauma, or was threatened with injury, sexual assault, or death.
PTSD can produce a broad range of symptoms including:
- Re-experiencing trauma, such as flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive thoughts about the event
- Heightened emotions such as being easily startled or angered, having difficulty concentrating, or having difficulty sleeping
- Emotional numbness or avoidance of certain triggers for re-experiencing the trauma.
A veteran may qualify for VA disability benefits if he or she has symptoms related to a traumatic event and:
- The highly stressful event happened during military service, and
- The vet cant function as well as they once could because of their symptoms, and
- A doctor has diagnosed the veteran with PTSD.
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Focal Point #: The Ptsd Diagnostic Exam
A good Diagnostic exam is like a bowling ball that hits squarely between the #1 and #2 pins: everything falls right into place.
It can establish your rating, and when done properly, can help to corroborate certain stressor events. It also will largely ignore the GAF Score if your VA or private psychologist or psychiatrist assigned one.
Done properly, it can also be a very strong piece of evidence that a VA C& P Examiner cannot attack or rebut when making the ultimate nexus determination.
An Experienced Va Benefits Attorney Can Assist You
An experienced VA disability attorney understands not only how the VA rates PTSD but the evidence that veterans need to provide in order to show that their condition has worsened with time and warrants an increased rating. We can help you with a decision review, or can even assist you in obtaining the documentation you would need to obtain a TDIU.
Contact us today for a free case review.
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How 70% Ptsd Can Get You To 100%
VA has several different ratings for service connected PTSD that are correlated with the frequency and severity of associated symptoms. Many veterans receive a 70% PTSD rating because their PTSD causes substantial problems for them in occupational or social settings, or both.
A 70% PTSD rating is certainly on the higher end of the scale for PTSD ratings. However, we find that many veterans we talk to who have a 70% rating for PTSD are not receiving the maximum amount of compensation they are potentially owed on account of their service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder. Sometimes that is because they should in fact be rated at 100% on the schedule of ratings for PTSD. More often, however, we encounter veterans who are rated at 70% but are not working. In those situations where a veteran is unemployed due to his or her service-connected disability, it is sometimes still possible to draw the same benefit as those veterans rated at 100% total disability. Unfortunately, many veterans at the 70% rating level for PTSD do not realize that they are likely overlooking additional benefits if their PTSD prevents them from being able to get or keep a job.
If you are at the 70% level or are applying to get that, you owe it to yourself and your family see if you may be eligible for compensation at the 100% level through TDIU, also known as total disability based on individual unemployability, or simply individual unemployability .
Ptsd Increase Tip #: Get A Dbq For Ptsd Review
The #1 most effective way to increase VA disability rating for PTSD is to have a private medical provider complete a DBQ Form for PTSD Review.
Why do I say this?
Well, heres a secret hack: Sometimes, the VA Rater willaccept the DBQ on its own merits and grant you a PTSD increase without aC& P exam.
But, even if you do get a C& P exam for PTSD, youll bemore than ready, because youve got new and relevant medical evidence tosupport HOW your PTSD symptoms are worse.
And remember, the more severe your symptoms, the higher rating youll get for PTSD.
On the PTSD DBQ, the most important section is Section IV Occupational and Social Impairment.
This section corresponds directly to the VA ratings for PTSD, and whatever box the doctor checks is the rating youre likely to receive.
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Proving A Service Connection
Once you have an official PTSD diagnosis, youll need to be able to prove a service connection for your condition. In essence, a service connection is a specific incident or set of circumstances that could have caused your condition. In the case of PTSD, almost any aspect of military service is enough to be a service connection.
If you served in a combat zone, were taken prisoner, or lost friends in the service, those can all qualify as service connections. Harsh service conditions, such as poor hygiene conditions or inhumane discipline can also qualify. The incident you use as your service connection will need to be something documented in your military records.
What Benefits Can I Expect Based On My Rating
According to the VAs 2022 disability compensation rates, if you have an 80% rating you will receive $1,778.43 per month if you have no dependents. However, with a 100% disability rating that number can increase to $3,332.06 per month. Monthly compensation typically increases if you have dependents . The full list of compensation rates can be found on the VA website here.
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Appeal The Decision Or File A New Claim
The most straightforward approach is to appeal VAs decision on the original claim. You have up to one year after the first rating has been assigned to do so. If its been past one year, you can simply file a new claim. In either case, its strongly recommended that you present more evidence to bolster your claim and improve your chances of a more favorable decision.
Tips For What To Do After Ptsd C& p Exam
After a C& P examination, the veteran and any witnesses should write down their thoughts about the examination asap. Issues for a witness to write down include:
- how long the exam was
- whether the examiner would let you come back and give your testimony
- any changes in the veterans mood before and after the exam, and
- any other observations about the facility.
Issues for the veteran to write down include whether:
- exam was thorough
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Understanding Your Va Disability Rating For Ptsd
VA disability ratings range from 0% to 100%, but for PTSD claims, the standard ratings are 0%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%. These ratings are meant to capture the severity of your condition, and how much it affects your ability to work and take care of everyday life stuff.
- A 0% rating indicates that your PTSD doesnt interfere with your work or school or family life. This is not a common rating, because it doesnt make much sense for someone with a PTSD diagnosis to not experience its disabling impacts.
- A 30% rating means you have mild symptoms that may come and go, depending on your stress level. At the 30% rating medication and therapy can be effective at mitigating symptoms.
- A 50% rating applies when your PTSD causes more pronounced problems at work and in your daily life.
- A 70% rating means PTSD causes significant and frequent difficulties in your daily life, such as near continuous panic attacks. At this rating you also have trouble working and maintaining healthy relationships.
- A 100% rating is rare, and applies to people who are not able to function in the workplace, and have become socially isolated. The technical term is complete occupational and social impairment.
The good news is that a denied PTSD claim or a too-low rating is not the end of the story. You can appeal the decision and submit more evidence to support your claim.
What Forms Do You Need To Fill Out To Request An Updated Rating
The forms you need to fill out to request a re-evaluation differ based on where you initially received treatment. For instance, if you received care at a VA or military service healthcare facility, you need only to fill out Form 21-526EZ, which asks for the name of the site where you received treatment so they can be contacted to verify your information.
If, however, you received treatment at a civilian facility, then you will also need to fill out Form 21-4142, which is, in essence, a HIPAA form. This form is required for the authorization of the release of your medical records. It also gives permission for your physicians to confer with the VA.
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What Tests Do Va Ptsd C& p Examiners Use
There are a few different tests that a VA doctor may use to attempt to uncover malingering. One of these tests is the M-FAST . The developers of this test looked to provide clinicians with a reliable screening tool for malingered mental illness. The test consists of a 25 item screening interview over seven scales, or categories.
The categories are: reported vs. observed symptoms, extreme symptomatology, rare combinations, unusual hallucinations, unusual symptom course, negative image, and suggestibility. A score higher than 6 indicates possible malingering. The M-FAST can be used alone, but it is also meant to be used as part of a larger assessment. If a veteran scores high on the M-FAST, additional tests may be done like the MMPI-2 .
The MMPI-2 comes with its own set of issues. It is a long, involved personality and psychopathy test. It has two sections devoted specifically to PTSD to detect malingering. As discussed in the VAs Best Practice Manual for PTSD Compensation and Pension Examinations, the MMPI-2 consists of validity scales. When a person is exaggerating his symptoms these scales are elevated.