Jim,
I went to my doctor "army" about 5 months prior to retirement. He put in my medical record my complaint of sleep problems by me and my family. He claimed possible osa. He referred me to Walter reed for a sleep study. The appointment was never made by Walter reed. I retired in sep 10. Mar 11 I was diagnosed by a civilian doctor after sleep study with mod osa. This is well inside 365 days. Do I have a claim with va? Vso Amvets says do not waste my time.
Reply:
This is one of the many reasons I tell veterans to avoid the advice of VSO's. That is some of the worst advice I've ever heard. If your civilian doctor prescribed a CPAP machine for you, you should immediately file for an OSA rating with VA.
Now...understand that there are 2 factors that will affect the outcome.
The one year rule isn't carved in granite.
VA is in such a mess these days that the most perfect cases are denied for no good reason. I estimate more than 70% of all cases are wrongly denied and then won on appeal.
So, get busy quickly. File your claim. Do it yourself...you do not need a representative. You particularly don't want the rep who just told you to give up on a benefit you earned.
Plan on it taking 2 years. Then know that you'll be denied. Once denied, you will appeal. You will probably want to retain a lawyer for the appeal.
Once appealed you will very likely win. You may get an enormous retro check. You'll also get the satisfaction of knowing you did the right thing.
Look on my site for how to file a claim. http://www.vawatchdog.org/how-to-file-a-claim.html