What Is Permanent & Total for Veterans Disability?

If you are going to be applying for Veterans disability benefits, you may be wondering what is considered a permanent and total injury to the Department of Veterans Affairs. There is no clear cut answer to this question unfortunately. It all depends on the severity of the injury and how it affects your daily life and ability to work.

• There are different ways that you can be deemed to have a permanent and total injury that will allow you to get the most form your Veterans disability benefits. If you are more than sixty five years of age, if you are a resident in a nursing home or other facility as a result of the injuries that you received while in the military, or if you have been deemed to be disabled by Social Security in order to claim benefits such as SSI or SSDI.


• If you are not automatically considered to have a permanent and total injury, there are ways that you can help the ruling. You should be sure to bring current medical records with you to your appointment with a VA doctor so that they can read the reports before assessing your situation. This will help them to accurately determine how much the condition affects your ability to work.


• Each disability that you have will carry its own percentage of how much it affects your ability to work. For example if you have two different disabilities that were received while in the military that both carry a 30% rating, together your total disability would be 60% which would qualify you as total and permanently disabled.


• If you only have one disability as a result of your service with the military, the percentage rating for your disability must be at least 60% in order to qualify you for a rating of permanently disabled.