Author Archives: John Gately
BVA Virtual Hearings- How to Fact Sheet
The BVA is now instituting virtual hearings to expedite cases and ease the travel burden on veterans and advocates appealing lower-level agency decisions. For your convenience, I have attached the current BVA Fact sheet outlining how to request a virtual hearing for your convenience. Stay safe, well, and coronavirus free! BVA VirtualHearing_FactSheet
Urgent- Major Change to DOD Isability System
A major change was made to the DOD Disability Evaluation System on 2/12/20 that eliminated all post-hearing appeals after formal hearings for cases processed after 3/1/20. This change eliminates a whole level of appeals and forces service members to proceed to the BCMR/BCNR for their respective services. What does this mean for service members? It […]
Recovering Medical Costs After Winning at the PDBR or BCMR
If you have been retroactively retired by the PDBR or BCMR, you can now seek reimbursement for both insurance premiums and out of pocket medical expenses incurred before the favorable board action. See McCord v. United States, Fed. Circuit Docket No. 2018-2243. This decision is a significant breakthrough for anyone who was separated with severance pay […]
Urgent Agent Orange Update
The VA has just released a comprehensive list of all of the sites where Agent Orange and other herbicides used in Vietnam were tested or stored, including bases within the United States. This development may dramatically expand the base of veterans eligible to file Agent Orange claims as the list includes such sites as Fort […]
Quick and Easy Way to Complete Your VA 21-0819
When you are enrolled in the IDES process, one of your first appointments will be with a Military Service Coordinator (“MSC”)- a VA representative, to determine the list of conditions for which you are seeking service-connection from the VA. The quick and easy way to help your MSC with this list is to review the […]
Fraudulent Entries by VA C&P Providers
I recently had a case in which either a VA C&P examiner or a member of her staff signed my client’s name to a form attesting that a goniometer had been used during all aspects of the range of motion testing in his case. In fact, this was not true. The veteran refused to sign […]
Why You Need to Address V Code Issues on Your Army DA7652
If you are an active-duty soldier, Reservist or Guardsman going through the Army IDES process and have combat-related medical conditions, it will help your case if your DA 7652 characterizes these injuries as being combat-related. This means asking your Commander to describe in a sentence or two for each condition, how it was incurred in […]
Reviewing Your VA C&P Exams for Accuracy
If you are in the IDES process and have completed your VA C&P exams, then you should wait for about two weeks and then request a copy of these exams from your PEBLO. Why? Because of these exams are the primary documents that the VA Rating Activity uses to assign disability ratings to your DOD […]
Urgent- Using Goniometers in VA C&P Exams
I had now had several cases within the past few months in which VA C&P exam providers have not used goniometers and relied on a line of sight methodology when assessing the range of motion in IDES Cases. This practice violates the protocols that examiners must follow and typically will not be to your benefit […]
Important Brown Water Navy Update
The VA Office of General Counsel published a summary of its key opinions affecting BrownWater Navy veterans and their survivors in today’s Federal Register. While this summary is useful, it is critical for any Brown Water Navy veterans or their survivors to review the full text of these opinions to effectively use them in support […]
