Hello again.
Travis Studdard, veteran's disability attorney, here to talk to you today about some examples
of ways that you can have a secondary disability.
If you saw my earlier video, I went through what a secondary disability is, but basically
that is a situation where you have a disability that is already service connected, and then
that causes additional disabilities.
Let me give you three basic ways where we typically see a veteran develop a secondary
disability as a result of his other service-connected disabilities.
The first way is the result of medical treatment for a service-connected disability.
An example of that would be you have a knee injury or a back injury and you take pain
medication for that.
Lots of pain medications can cause stress and damage to your internal organs, such as
liver damage, kidney damage, stomach irritation which can lead to ulcers or other gastrointestinal
type problems.
That's one way.
Another is, let's say you have to have a surgery on your back and unfortunately in the hospital
you develop a staph infection, or in doing the surgery a natural or foreseen complication
of that is sometimes a nerve that gets damaged.
Again, those are secondary disabilities that would also be eligible for service connection
if you can establish that nexus.
A second way that disabilities are secondary to a service-connected condition is through
just the systemic effects of a disability or overuse of other body parts as a result
of other injured parts of the body.
An example would be of systemic effects on the body ... Again, your whole body, it's
one body system.
Everything's connected.
If you develop diabetes, that has a host of problems that can then come as a domino effect
later.
You can develop peripheral neuropathy.
You can develop retinopathy, glaucoma, all sorts of things that, again, in your body
from head to toe, literally, that can result, even heart problems and that sort of thing.
Another example would be, again, overuse.
You have a bad right arm as a result of your military service, so naturally you start using
your left arm more.
At some point along the way, because you're doing twice as much with the left arm, that
shoulder wears out and then you tear your rotator cuff.
Then you can try to get service connection on a secondary basis for that left shoulder.
A third way you can gain secondary disabilities is through VA presumptions.
The VA has established presumptions that certain disabilities do cause other disabilities.
A very good example of that is traumatic brain injuries.
VA has established some TBI presumptions, and so if you are a veteran with TBIs that
meet certain criteria that we won't get into here, but if you meet those criteria then
you're eligible for secondary disabilities for seizures, Parkinson's disease, depression,
dementia, certain hormone deficiencies, and things of that nature.
Again, presumptions are a great way to get service connection on a secondary basis if
you can.
That way, you don't have to establish medical nexus that would be required under other circumstances.
Again, VA doesn't automatically award secondary disability.
You have to apply for it.
You have to prove it, whether on a presumptive basis or otherwise.
Hope that helps.
Check out our other videos on secondary disabilities and other topics as well.
If you have any questions, give us a call, reach out to us on our website, and we'll
be glad to go over your claim with you.
Thanks for watching today.