Question:

Hi Jim.  I just had a quick question. I am a retired Vet who has a service connected back injury for which i am receiving 50% compensation rating. I have been told that back surgery is my ONLY option and is inevitable (but i've been putting it off all these years)! But my question is, after having the surgery, will it affect my benefits in any way? I was informed that due to the surgery, it may increase? How does that work?

Jim's Reply:

Service connected conditions requiring hospital stays for surgery usually get rated at 100% for a few months of recuperation. Then you're ordered to another C & P exam where a new rating will be established. If the surgery corrected the problem, your rating could fall as low as 0% since the problem was fixed. If the condition was made worse and you are more disabled after the surgery, then the rating could rise. Ratings should reflect where our conditions are at the present time so we can't predict what yours will be until we see if the surgery helps.