HOW TO GET TREATING PHYSICIANS TO WRITE OPINION LETTERS
Favorable medical evidence is the lifeblood of any VA disability claim because, in most cases, the success of a VA claim turns upon favorable medical evidence. Under its duty to assist, the VA is required to provide an examination. But, VA compensation and pension medical examinations are frequently unfavorable, requiring Veterans to seek favorable medical opinion evidence elsewhere. In such cases, you must do all you can to obtain favorable opinion letters from your treating physician.
This blog discusses how best to obtain medical opinion letters from VA and private treating physicians. On this, The Veterans Law Group (VLG) recommends Veterans to speak to the physician directly, if possible, when requesting an opinion letter, emphasizing how desperately you need his/her support. Physicians are human, and they have a lot of discretion in deciding whether to lend assistance.
VA Treating Physicians
Typically, VA treaters will not write letter opinions in support of a Veteran’s disability claim. There is an unwritten, but fully enforced, VA policy of discouraging VA treating physicians from writing letters for VA disability claims. However, it is always worth asking, because some VA physicians care enough about Veterans to ignore the VA policy. In fact, The Veterans Law Group (VLG) has successfully obtained the assistance of VA treating physicians to write favorable opinion letters. In those cases, the VLG staff will write a sample letter or instructions to guide the treating physician in writing his/her own letter. A sample letter or instructions for the physician is necessary; otherwise, the physician will have no idea what issues and information are important and will have no idea how to address them. (VLG recommends that you contact your representative for help in preparing the sample letter or instructions.).
Again, in most cases, a VA physician will decline your request, usually stating that it would be a conflict of interest. THAT IS NOT TRUE. The VA disability system is non-adversarial; therefore, favorable medical evidence from any source, including a VA treating physician, is proper and helpful. After all, no physician is more familiar with the Veteran’s condition than his treating physician. As for now, this issue has not been decided by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). The VLG would like to pursue this issue at the local regional offices and at the CAVC and encourages Veterans, whose VA physician has refused to write a letter alleging conflict of interest, to reach out to us.
Private Physicians
For obtaining favorable opinion letters, your best bet is with a private treating physician. This includes private physicians who have obtained VA authorization to treat Veterans. To begin with, please approach your physician with some assurances when first asking them to write an opinion letter. Physicians are very busy and the idea of writing a letter, possibly requiring a substantial amount of time, may discourage them. The physician maybe thinking that he/she needs to take the time to review medical records and other material to prepare the letter. Therefore, at the outset, let the physician know that writing the letter will not take much of his/her time, as you or your representative will prepare a sample letter for his/her use. In preparing the sample letter, it is important that you perform your own review and summary of your medical record and highlight those records most pertinent to your claim. Moreover, assure your physician that the opinion letter need not be lengthy. Again, you want to make your request as least burdensome as possible.
