Medical records matter in a VA disability claim, but they are not the only evidence. Veterans, family members, friends, and fellow servicemembers may provide lay evidence about symptoms, events, and changes they personally observed.
Buchanan v. Nicholson, 451 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2006), and Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313, 1316 (Fed. Cir. 2009) explain why VA cannot automatically reject lay evidence simply because there are no matching medical records or because the person providing the evidence is not a medical professional.
What Happened in Buchanan v. Nicholson?
The veteran in Buchanan sought service connection for a psychiatric disorder. He submitted lay statements from relatives, acquaintances, and a former servicemember describing behavioral changes during service or shortly afterward.
The Board discounted the lay evidence in part because contemporaneous medical records did not support it. The Court determined that VA may consider the absence of medical documentation when weighing evidence, but it cannot find lay evidence not credible merely because matching medical records do not exist.
What Happened in Davidson v. Shinseki?
In Davidson, a veteran’s surviving spouse sought benefits after her husband drowned. She argued that his death was related to a mental disorder connected to his military service.
Her lay evidence was rejected under a rule requiring a medical opinion to establish the connection. The Court rejected that categorical requirement, explaining that VA must consider competent lay evidence as well as medical evidence. The Federal Circuit relied on 38 U.S.C. section 1154(a), which requires VA to give due consideration to “all pertinent medical and lay evidence.”
How Do These Cases Work Together?
These cases protect lay evidence in two different but complementary ways. Buchanan protects lay evidence from being rejected solely because it lacks matching medical records. Davidson protects lay evidence from being rejected solely because it comes from a non-medical person, when that person is competent to report the fact or observation at issue.
This does not mean lay evidence can establish every diagnosis or medical relationship. Whether a person is competent to provide particular evidence depends on what is being reported and whether it is something that person can observe or identify.
What Do Davidson & Buchanan Mean for Your VA Claim?
Your statement can be important evidence when describing things you personally experienced or observed, including when symptoms began, whether they continued, and how a disability affects your daily life. Statements from spouses, family members, friends, and fellow servicemembers can also help document observable symptoms or changes.
For example: a spouse can describe seeing a veteran wake up gasping for air, a fellow servicemember can describe witnessing an in-service injury, and a veteran can describe recurring knee instability or the frequency and severity of headaches. Those are concrete observations, as opposed to a layperson simply announcing a complicated medical diagnosis.
A lack of treatment records does not automatically make credible lay evidence unreliable. Likewise, lay evidence should not be discounted simply because it does not come from a medical professional. Davidson and Buchanan require VA to properly consider competent lay evidence along with the rest of the record.