TITLE 38 - US CODE - SUBCHAPTER VI - GENERAL COMPENSATION PROVISIONS

38 USC 1151 - Benefits for persons disabled by treatment or vocational rehabilitation

(a) Compensation under this chapter and dependency and indemnity compensation under chapter 13 of this title shall be awarded for a qualifying additional disability or a qualifying death of a veteran in the same manner as if such additional disability or death were service-connected. For purposes of this section, a disability or death is a qualifying additional disability or qualifying death if the disability or death was not the result of the veterans willful misconduct and

(1) the disability or death was caused by hospital care, medical or surgical treatment, or examination furnished the veteran under any law administered by the Secretary, either by a Department employee or in a Department facility as defined in section 1701 (3)(A) of this title, and the proximate cause of the disability or death was

(A) carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill, error in judgment, or similar instance of fault on the part of the Department in furnishing the hospital care, medical or surgical treatment, or examination; or

(B) an event not reasonably foreseeable; or

(2) the disability or death was proximately caused

(A) by the provision of training and rehabilitation services by the Secretary (including by a service-provider used by the Secretary for such purpose under section 3115 of this title) as part of an approved rehabilitation program under chapter 31 of this title, or

(B) by participation in a program (known as a compensated work therapy program) under section 1718 of this title.

(b)

(1) Where an individual is, on or after December 1, 1962, awarded a judgment against the United States in a civil action brought pursuant to section 1346 (b) of title 28 or, on or after December 1, 1962, enters into a settlement or compromise under section 2672 or 2677 of title 28 by reason of a disability or death treated pursuant to this section as if it were service-connected, then (except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2)) no benefits shall be paid to such individual for any month beginning after the date such judgment, settlement, or compromise on account of such disability or death becomes final until the aggregate amount of benefits which would be paid but for this subsection equals the total amount included in such judgment, settlement, or compromise.

(2) In the case of a judgment, settlement, or compromise covered by paragraph (1) that becomes final on or after the date of the enactment of this paragraph and that includes an amount that is specifically designated for a purpose for which benefits are provided under chapter 21 or 39 of this title (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as the offset amount), if such judgment, settlement, or compromise becomes final before the date of the award of benefits under chapter 21 or 39 for the purpose for which the offset amount was specifically designated

(A) the amount of such award shall be reduced by the offset amount; and

(B) if the offset amount is greater than the amount of such award, the excess amount received pursuant to the judgment, settlement or compromise, shall be offset against benefits otherwise payable under this chapter.

(c) A qualifying additional disability under this section shall be treated in the same manner as if it were a service-connected disability for purposes of the following provisions of this title:

(1) Chapter 21, relating to specially adapted housing.

(2) Chapter 39, relating to automobiles and adaptive equipment.

38 USC 1152 - Persons heretofore having a compensable status

The death and disability benefits of this chapter shall, notwithstanding the service requirements thereof, be granted to persons heretofore recognized by law as having a compensable status, including persons whose claims are based on war or peacetime service rendered before April 21, 1898.

38 USC 1153 - Aggravation

A preexisting injury or disease will be considered to have been aggravated by active military, naval, or air service, where there is an increase in disability during such service, unless there is a specific finding that the increase in disability is due to the natural progress of the disease.

38 USC 1154 - Consideration to be accorded time, place, and circumstances of service

(a) The Secretary shall include in the regulations pertaining to service-connection of disabilities

(1) additional provisions in effect requiring that in each case where a veteran is seeking service-connection for any disability due consideration shall be given to the places, types, and circumstances of such veterans service as shown by such veterans service record, the official history of each organization in which such veteran served, such veterans medical records, and all pertinent medical and lay evidence, and

(2) the provisions required by section 5 of the Veterans Dioxin and Radiation Exposure Compensation Standards Act (Public Law 98542; 98 Stat. 2727).

(b) In the case of any veteran who engaged in combat with the enemy in active service with a military, naval, or air organization of the United States during a period of war, campaign, or expedition, the Secretary shall accept as sufficient proof of service-connection of any disease or injury alleged to have been incurred in or aggravated by such service satisfactory lay or other evidence of service incurrence or aggravation of such injury or disease, if consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of such service, notwithstanding the fact that there is no official record of such incurrence or aggravation in such service, and, to that end, shall resolve every reasonable doubt in favor of the veteran. Service-connection of such injury or disease may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. The reasons for granting or denying service-connection in each case shall be recorded in full.

38 USC 1155 - Authority for schedule for rating disabilities

The Secretary shall adopt and apply a schedule of ratings of reductions in earning capacity from specific injuries or combination of injuries. The ratings shall be based, as far as practicable, upon the average impairments of earning capacity resulting from such injuries in civil occupations. The schedule shall be constructed so as to provide ten grades of disability and no more, upon which payments of compensation shall be based, namely, 10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent, 60 percent, 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent, and total, 100 percent. The Secretary shall from time to time readjust this schedule of ratings in accordance with experience. However, in no event shall such a readjustment in the rating schedule cause a veterans disability rating in effect on the effective date of the readjustment to be reduced unless an improvement in the veterans disability is shown to have occurred.

38 USC 1156 - Vacant]

38 USC 1157 - Combination of certain ratings

The Secretary shall provide for the combination of ratings and pay compensation at the rates prescribed in subchapter II of this chapter to those veterans who served during a period of war and during any other time, who have suffered disability in line of duty in each period of service.

38 USC 1158 - Disappearance

Where a veteran receiving compensation under this chapter disappears, the Secretary may pay the compensation otherwise payable to the veteran to such veterans spouse, children, and parents. Payments made to such spouse, child, or parent under the preceding sentence shall not exceed the amounts payable to each if the veteran had died from service-connected disability.

38 USC 1159 - Protection of service connection

Service connection for any disability or death granted under this title which has been in force for ten or more years shall not be severed on or after January 1, 1962, except upon a showing that the original grant of service connection was based on fraud or it is clearly shown from military records that the person concerned did not have the requisite service or character of discharge. The mentioned period shall be computed from the date determined by the Secretary as the date on which the status commenced for rating purposes.

38 USC 1160 - Special consideration for certain cases of loss of paired organs or extremities

(a) Where a veteran has suffered

(1) impairment of vision in one eye as a result of service-connected disability and impairment of vision in the other eye as a result of non-service-connected disability not the result of the veterans own willful misconduct and

(A) the impairment of vision in each eye is rated at a visual acuity of 20/200 or less; or

(B) the peripheral field of vision for each eye is 20 degrees or less;

(2) the loss or loss of use of one kidney as a result of service-connected disability and involvement of the other kidney as a result of non-service-connected disability not the result of the veterans own willful misconduct;

(3) deafness compensable to a degree of 10 percent or more in one ear as a result of service-connected disability and deafness in the other ear as the result of non-service-connected disability not the result of the veterans own willful misconduct;

(4) the loss or loss of use of one hand or one foot as a result of service-connected disability and the loss or loss of use of the other hand or foot as a result of non-service-connected disability not the result of the veterans own willful misconduct; or

(5) permanent service-connected disability of one lung, rated 50 percent or more disabling, in combination with a non-service-connected disability of the other lung that is not the result of the veterans own willful misconduct,

the Secretary shall assign and pay to the veteran the applicable rate of compensation under this chapter as if the combination of disabilities were the result of service-connected disability.

(b) If a veteran described in subsection (a) of this section receives any money or property of value pursuant to an award in a judicial proceeding based upon, or a settlement or compromise of, any cause of action for damages for the non-service-connected disability described in such subsection, the increase in the rate of compensation otherwise payable under this section shall not be paid for any month following a month in which any such money or property is received until such time as the total of the amount of such increase that would otherwise have been payable equals the total of the amount of any such money received and the fair market value of any such property received.

38 USC 1161 - Payment of disability compensation in disability severance cases

The deduction of disability severance pay from disability compensation, as required by section 1212 (c) of title 10, shall be made at a monthly rate not in excess of the rate of compensation to which the former member would be entitled based on the degree of such former members disability as determined on the initial Department rating.

38 USC 1162 - Clothing allowance

The Secretary under regulations which the Secretary shall prescribe, shall pay a clothing allowance of $662 per year to each veteran who

(1) because of a service-connected disability, wears or uses a prosthetic or orthopedic appliance (including a wheelchair) which the Secretary determines tends to wear out or tear the clothing of the veteran; or

(2) uses medication which

(A) a physician has prescribed for a skin condition which is due to a service-connected disability, and

(B) the Secretary determines causes irreparable damage to the veterans outergarments.

38 USC 1163 - Trial work periods and vocational rehabilitation for certain veterans with total disability ratings

(a)

(1) The disability rating of a qualified veteran who begins to engage in a substantially gainful occupation after January 31, 1985, may not be reduced on the basis of the veteran having secured and followed a substantially gainful occupation unless the veteran maintains such an occupation for a period of 12 consecutive months.

(2) For purposes of this section, the term qualified veteran means a veteran who has a service-connected disability, or service-connected disabilities, not rated as total but who has been awarded a rating of total disability by reason of inability to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of such disability or disabilities.

(b) The Secretary shall make counseling services described in section 3104 (a)(2) of this title and placement and postplacement services described in section 3104 (a)(5) of this title available to each qualified veteran (whether or not the veteran is participating in a vocational rehabilitation program under chapter 31 of this title).

(c)

(1) In the case of each award after January 31, 1985, of a rating of total disability described in subsection (a)(2) of this section to a veteran, the Secretary shall provide to the veteran, at the time that notice of the award is provided to the veteran, a statement providing

(A) notice of the provisions of this section;

(B) information explaining the purposes and availability of and eligibility for, and the procedures for pursuing, a vocational rehabilitation program under chapter 31 of this title; and

(2) After providing the notice required under paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Secretary shall offer the veteran the opportunity for an evaluation under section 3106 (a) of this title.