Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Proposed Regulation for New Conditions Secondary to TBI



On Monday December 10, 2012, VA published a proposed regulation that would make 5 illnesses secondary to service-connected TBI (traumatic brain injury). The new subsection of 38 C.F.R. § 3.310 would state that if a veteran is service-connected for TBI and also has one of the five illnesses, then that illness will be service-connected as secondary to the TBI. The proposed rule is based on the findings of the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine that there is “sufficient evidence of a causal relationship” between moderate or severe levels of TBI and (1) diagnosed unprovoked seizures, (2) Parkinsonism; (3) dementias (to include presenile dementias of the Alzheimer type and post-traumatic dementia), (4) depression (also associated with mild TBI), and (5) diseases of hormone deficiency that may result from hypothalamo-pituitary changes.

The full text of the proposed regulation is in the Federal Register:

Comments on the proposed rule must be received by VA on or before February 8, 2013.

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