Noteboom The Law Firm

Veterans Groups Sue VA Over PTSD Diagnosis Standards

January 6, 2011 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently changed their rules for disability qualification. Ultimately, the rule change made it easier for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to qualify for, and be approved for, VA disability compensation. Unfortauntely at the same time, the VA made it incrementally more difficult for those veterans to receive a PTSD
diagnosis in the first place. Several veteran's groups filed a lawsuit against the VA because of the VA's change on their standards for accepting PTSD diagnoses.

The VA's rule change did away with the veterans' requirement to provide witnesses in order to corroborate the circumstances, which lead to the veteran developing PTSD. A short time later, the VA changed their diagnoses requirements to require that any positive PTSD diagnoses come from VA doctors, and not private doctors.

Prior to the VA changing these rules, the environment was much more favorable to the veteran, despite veterans now having to prove less to the VA in order to be able to file a disability claim. Previously, if there was a conflict between diagnoses from a private doctor and a VA doctor, the VA always gave the benefit of the doubt to the veteran. These new rules completely preclude the VA from even considering the private doctors' diagnoses. Whereas before the veteran was given favor, the evidence now works against them and their disability claim.

The National Organization of Veterans Advocates (NOVA), the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Veterans of Modern Warfare jointly filed the lawsuit against the VA. Their lawsuit is based on the premise the VA has never supplied evidence proving VA doctors are any better at diagnosing PTSD than private doctors.