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Video Blog – Nexus Linking Your VA Disability to Service

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Matthew Hill:Hello and welcome to the Hill & Ponton VA Video Blog. I’m Matthew Hill.
Carol Ponton:I’m Carol Ponton.
Matthew Hill:Today, we are going to talk to you about nexus and what it is and how it’s important to your claim or not important to your claim. A nexus is essentially a link to show that you are entitled service-connected disability benefits on the most basic level, direct compensation level. You have to show three things. You have to show something happened in service, that you have a current disability, and that there’s a nexus or a link between the two.
 First of all, say that when you’re dealing with your case, if you’ve already shown that it’s service connected, the VA has admitted that it’s related to service, the issue in your case then is either the rating or the effective date. At that point, you no longer have to worry about nexus The nexus really only comes into play when you’re trying to show that your disability is related to service, and so what we see or what is necessary almost all the time for a nexus is a medical opinion, opinion from the doctor. He looks at what happened in service, what’s going on now, and gives a medical opinion as to if they are or not related.
Carol Ponton:Right, and that’s key. You have to say why they’re related and give a reasoning for that. That’s one of the things that gets most opinions thrown out, whether it’s a compensation and pension exam or an independent medical exam. They have to give their reasoning if they have medical literature to back it up. They have to say why is it you think there’s a connection between the two.
Matthew Hill:I would add that a lot of times we’ll have veterans come to us and they will have gotten a nexus opinion from their doctor even their VA doctor, and it can’t just be the doctor’s word as in “I said so. This is connected because I said so.” They have to actually have looked at relevant records from your file. They need to see evidence of that incident in service other than your word. They need to look at service medical records. They need to look at hospitalization from service, and they need to say that.
 They can say something like, “I saw service clinical records showing that the veteran injured his knee in a football game. He has degenerative joint disease in this knee now, and I believe it’s as likely is not that this caused the current disability.” It’s something to where the doctor can’t just write one or two sentences saying I talked to my veteran and he said that this happened in service and therefore I think it’s service connected.
 Thank you for joining us, and we hope to see you again on this space soon.
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Matthew Hill

Mr. Hill focuses his practice on representing the disabled veterans. He is a member of the Florida Bar and the Washington D.C. Bar. He is licensed to practice before the United States District Court in and for the Middle District of Florida, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. He represents veterans and their dependents across the nation.

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