The
Federal Circuit issued an opinion in National
Organization of Veterans’ Advocates v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs,
upholding the validity of the revised version of 38 C.F.R. 3.304(f), which is
the regulation governing verification of PTSD stressors. Specifically, this
regulation says
If
a stressor claimed by a veteran is related to the veteran's fear of hostile
military or terrorist activity and a VA
psychiatrist or psychologist, or a psychiatrist or psychologist with whom VA
has contracted, confirms that the claimed stressor is adequate to support a
diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder and that the veteran's symptoms are
related to the claimed stressor, in the absence of clear and convincing
evidence to the contrary, and provided the claimed stressor is consistent with
the places, types, and circumstances of the veteran's service, the veteran's
lay testimony alone may establish the occurrence of the claimed in-service
stressor.
The issue with this regulation was that
it required stressor verification to come by a VA psychiatrist or psychologist
only – and NOT from a private doctor. The Court upheld this regulation as
reasonable.
(posted to hoeferlaw.com January 2012)
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