The Most Overlooked Secondary Conditions That Increase VA Disability Benefits

The VA rates only what you claim. It will not comb through your file looking for depression that followed your TBI or heart disease that followed amputation. Federal regulations already presume both are connected. Neither is added to your combined rating unless you apply for it.

Secondary service connection lives in 38 C.F.R. § 3.310. You do not need to show that the condition began during service, only that it was caused or worsened by something that the VA has already acknowledged. That is a lower standard. Most veterans never challenge it.

Five Conditions the VA Already Presumes Come From TBI

If your traumatic brain injury is service-connected, section 3.310(d) may apply to you. In the absence of clear evidence to the contrary, the VA considers the following to be a direct result of the traumatic brain injury:

• Parkinson’s disease or Parkinsonism
• Unprovoked seizures of the same severity
• Frontotemporal dementia or presenile Alzheimer’s-type dementia if it appears within 15 years of the injury
• Depression within three years of a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury, or within twelve months of a mild traumatic brain injury
• Hormonal deficiency diseases resulting from hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction within a year of the moderate or severe injury

No Nexus letter is required for any of these. Missing the presumptive window does not end the claim either. The VA must still decide on it under ordinary service connection principles.

Cardiovascular Disease After a Lower-Extremity Amputation

Amputation of one leg at or above the knee, or both legs above the ankles triggers a separate presumption under §3.310(c). Ischemic heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases that develop afterward are considered to be the immediate result of this amputation. Veterans in this situation often file a heart claim as a direct claim and lose because they have already been given the regulation.

Conditions That Grew Out of Weight Gain

Obesity is not a rated disability. It can still win your claim. According to VAOPGCPREC 1-2017, obesity can function as an intermediate stage: the service-related condition causes weight gain, which in turn causes the new condition. The new condition would not occur without the weight gain.

A service-connected knee injury limits how much you can move. Weight gain, and hypertension or sleep apnea follow. That chain of events is compensable. It must be documented by a physician, however, and not left to an assessor to infer.

Conditions Your Service-Connected Disability Kept You From Treating

This theory is the newest and least used. In Spicer v. McDonough, 61 F.4th 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2023), the veteran’s service-connected leukemia did not cause his knee arthritis. The leukemia medications made it impossible to perform knee replacement surgery. The Federal Circuit ruled that but-for causation under 38 U.S.C. § 1110 applies to this situation. 

If a service-related disability blocks or delays treatment for another condition, the resulting impairment may be considered service-connected by the VA. They have incorporated this ruling into their adjudication guidelines, and rates now apply it.

Medication Side Effects Count

The pills are part of disability. GERD from years of anti-inflammatory medications taken for service-connected back pain. Erectile dysfunction from antidepressants prescribed for PTSD. Kidney damage from long-term pain management. What treatment does to you is compensated.

Aggravation Is Not the Same as Causation

You can win without having to prove anything at all. Section 3.310(b) covers the condition you already have, which a service-connected disability has made worse. The key is the baseline. VA only compensates for the increase above the level where the condition started, so you need medical evidence of how bad it was before. First, find the old records.

Each of these is rated separately, then combined with your existing ratings under 38 C.F.R. Part 4. Two or three overlooked secondary items can move a rating that has not changed for a decade.

Have Your Rating Decision Reviewed

At Veterans Benefits Law Group, PLLC, we salute the men and women who have dedicated their lives to protecting and serving our country. In return for that sacrifice, our country has a duty to care for you when you need it most. Getting what you are owed should not be so difficult.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.