Veterans and Traumatic Brain Injury Claims: VA Disability Ratings and Benefits

Two systems can help a veteran living with a traumatic brain injury, and they work differently.

The first system is VA disability compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which pays a monthly benefit based on how the injury affects daily life. The second is a civil injury claim, which exists only when someone else’s negligence caused the injury. Many veterans and their families understand the first, but never learn about the second. This guide covers both, starting with how the VA actually rates a TBI.

How Common Is TBI Among Service Members and Veterans?

Traumatic brain injury has been one of the signature injuries of recent military conflicts, caused by blast exposure, vehicle crashes, training accidents, and falls. The effects often last long after service ends, and they are not always visible. A veteran can look completely healthy and still struggle with memory, concentration, headaches, sleep, mood, and the ability to hold a job. That gap between how a veteran looks and how the injury actually affects them is at the center of both VA claims and injury claims.

How the VA Rates a Traumatic Brain Injury

The VA does not rate a TBI by how the injury happened. It rates the residual effects, meaning the lasting impairment the veteran lives with. A service-connected TBI is assigned one of five levels: 0, 10, 40, 70, or 100 percent.

The rating is built from three areas of function:

• Cognitive: Memory, attention, concentration, executive functioning, and the speed of processing information.
• Emotional and behavioral: Mood, irritability, anxiety, and changes in personality or impulse control.
• Physical: Headaches, dizziness, sensory changes, seizures, and other physical residuals.

Within these areas, the VA evaluates ten specific facets of functioning and assigns the rating based on the highest level of impairment among them. In practice, veterans with milder residuals often fall in the 10 to 40 percent range, while pronounced cognitive or physical impairment can support a 70 or 100 percent rating. Because the whole system turns on documenting how the injury limits daily function, thorough medical evidence matters more than almost anything else.

Service Connection and Secondary Conditions

To be compensated by the VA, a TBI must be service-connected. That means showing the residual effects resulted from an injury during active duty, active duty training, or inactive duty training, or that service aggravated a pre-existing condition. Despite how common TBI is among post-9/11 veterans, TBI itself is not currently a presumptive condition, so the connection to service has to be established with evidence.

Several conditions that can follow a TBI are treated differently. Under certain circumstances, the VA recognizes conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, certain seizure disorders, certain forms of dementia, depression, and hormone deficiencies as presumptively connected to a service-connected TBI. Each of these carries its own rating and can raise a veteran’s overall disability level. In the most severe cases, where a veteran cannot dress, feed, or care for themselves, a level of Special Monthly Compensation [SMC(t)] exists to help pay for in-home care. Because these issues can be complex, an experienced representative can help ensure all eligible conditions and benefits are properly identified and included in a veteran’s claim.

When a Veteran With a TBI Also Has a Legal Claim

VA benefits are not the same thing as an injury claim, and one does not replace the other. VA disability compensation is an administrative benefit tied to service. A civil injury claim exists only when another party’s negligence caused the harm, and it can provide compensation the VA does not, including full lost earnings and non-economic damages.

A veteran or service member may have a separate injury claim when the brain injury was caused by:

• A motor vehicle crash caused by a negligent driver, on or off duty.
• A defective product, such as defective equipment, a defective vehicle component, or a dangerous consumer product.
• Medical negligence, whether at a civilian hospital or, in some circumstances, at a VA or military facility. Claims involving federal medical care follow a separate federal process with strict deadlines and requirements.

These claims are fact-specific, and the deadlines are unforgiving, so the safe step is to have the circumstances reviewed by an attorney early rather than assuming no claim exists.

What to Do

1. Get a current medical evaluation that documents your residuals. The rating depends on how the injury affects cognitive, emotional, and physical function, so the record needs to capture all of it.
2. File or appeal your VA claim with complete evidence. If a rating seems too low for how the injury actually affects you, that is a reason to seek help, not to give up.
3. Ask about secondary conditions. Conditions linked to a TBI may add to your rating or qualify for added compensation.
4. Have any third-party cause reviewed for a separate claim. If a crash, a product, or medical negligence caused the injury, a civil claim may exist alongside your benefits.
5. Act promptly. VA appeals and civil injury claims each run on their own deadlines.

How Cohen, Placitella, Roth & Goslee Helps Veterans and Their Families

President Abraham Lincoln described the nation’s duty to veterans as caring “for him who shall have borne the battle.” Our firm has assisted veterans who suffered brain injuries and the conditions that follow them, including the psychological effects such as PTSD that so often accompany a service-related TBI. Where a third party caused or worsened the injury, we investigate the cause and pursue the full compensation the law allows, working with medical and other experts to prove how the injury changed the veteran’s life. A consultation is free, and we work on a contingency fee basis for civil injury claims, so you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

Talk to Cohen, Placitella, Roth & Goslee

If you or a veteran in your family is living with a traumatic brain injury, we can help you understand both your VA benefits and any injury claim. Contact Cohen, Placitella, Roth & Goslee for a free consultation. Call us at (888) 324-7683 or contact us online. For a civil injury claim, we work on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice. Consult a qualified attorney or an accredited representative about your specific situation. Cohen, Placitella, Roth & Goslee, P.C. is licensed to practice in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other jurisdictions, and represents clients nationwide with qualified co-counsel.