VA Disability Ratings for Traumatic Brain Injuries: What Veterans Should Know

If you sustained a traumatic brain injury while serving in the U.S. military and it has caused you a disability, you may qualify for VA disability benefits. Your benefits will depend on the disability rating the VA assigns to your condition. As a result, understanding how the VA rates traumatic brain injuries can help you protect your rights and maximize your financial benefits for your condition. 

Understanding Traumatic Brain Injuries

A traumatic brain injury occurs when a person suffers a blow to the head or body or when an object penetrates through the skull and enters the brain. Mild traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions, can cause temporary changes in brain function. However, moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries can result in significant, long-term complications or permanent brain damage. TBIs can cause various physical, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms or changes.

Military servicemembers can sustain traumatic brain injuries in the course of duty through various causes such as:

• Explosions
• Slip/trips and falls or falls from heights
• Motor vehicle accidents
• Blows to the head from hand-to-hand combat
• Bullet or shrapnel wounds to the head

How the VA Rates TBIs

The VA assigns disability ratings to conditions caused by traumatic brain injuries based on the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD). The VASRD recognizes that TBIs cause three main areas of dysfunction: cognitive, emotional/behavioral, and physical. In each of these areas, a medical evaluator must assign a level of impairment to facets such as:

• Memory, attention, concentration, and executive function
• Judgment
• Social interaction
• Orientation
• Motor activity
• Visual/spatial orientation
• Subjective symptoms
• Neurobehavioral effects
• Communication
• Consciousness

In each facet, an evaluator will assign a number from zero to three depending on the severity of a veteran’s symptoms; extremely severe symptoms will receive a rating of “total.” Based on the highest ratings, the VA will assign a disability rating of 0, 10, 40, 70, or 100 percent to a veteran’s TBI. 

Secondary Conditions Linked to TBIs

VA disability ratings for TBIs can also depend on whether a veteran has secondary conditions linked to a traumatic brain injury. Typical examples of such secondary conditions include:

• Post-traumatic stress disorders
• Insomnia/sleep disorders
• Seizures
• Migraines
• Depression
• Anxiety

The VA has a specific process for determining a veteran’s total disability rating when they have two or more service-connected conditions. The VA rates a veteran’s two most severe conditions and then uses a chart to determine the combined disability rating for the two conditions. The VA then takes that combined disability rating and uses the chart to determine the combined disability rating with the veteran’s next-most severe condition, and so on until the VA has combined all the veteran’s service-connected conditions.

Tips for Filing a Strong VA Disability Benefits Claim

Achieving an accurate disability rating for a TBI requires substantial medical evidence to document the severity of a veteran’s symptoms and establish a service connection between those symptoms and a traumatic brain injury suffered in the line of duty. Veterans can also provide written statements or testimony from family and friends to describe the debilitating effects of the veteran’s traumatic brain injury. When the VA denies a TBI claim or rates the disability lower than expected, a veteran can seek help from an experienced VA disability attorney to pursue an administrative appeal. 

Contact a VA Disability Attorney Today

If you suffered a traumatic brain injury during your military service, you may qualify for VA disability benefits if your injury resulted in a disabling medical condition. Contact Veterans Benefits Law Group today for a free, no-obligation consultation with a VA TBI disability attorney to learn more about the disability ratings process for traumatic brain injuries.