Lay Evidence and Buddy Statements That Hold Up at the Board

Step 8 of the method is lay evidence: statements from the people who watched you go through it. A lot of veterans skip this step. In many decisions I read from the Board of Veterans' Appeals, a lay statement got a claim reopened. Or it got a bad exam thrown out when the medical records had a gap.

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Who can write one

Anyone who saw something with their own eyes. Under the VA's rule on evidence, competent lay evidence is evidence that doesn't need special education, training, or experience. It counts when it comes from a person who knows the facts and describes things a layperson can observe. That's a low bar on purpose.

• A spouse or partner who lives with the symptoms every day.
• Adult children who remember you before and after.
• Parents who saw you leave and saw you come home.
• Battle buddies who were there, or who watched you limp through the months after.
• Coworkers who saw the missed days, the brace, the short temper.
• You. Your own statement is lay evidence too.

What a layperson can say

Things they observed. The event in service, if they were there. Symptoms that never really went away. The before and after. What daily life looks like now.

The rule on service connection says every condition you claim must be considered on all pertinent medical and lay evidence. Lay evidence does its heaviest lifting for chronic diseases on the VA's list, such as arthritis and high blood pressure. Say one was noted in service, but the records don't show it was chronic. Then proof the symptoms kept going after discharge can carry the claim. A 2023 Board decision calls that a separate route to service connection. For every other condition, continuing symptoms are still a factor the Board has to weigh. Lay evidence still counts as proof of the event, the symptoms, and the before and after. Medical records often have a gap of years. The people around you don't.

Lay evidence can also get you an exam. Say the file doesn't already hold enough medical evidence to decide the claim. The VA then owes you an exam or a medical opinion if three things are in the record.

• Competent lay or medical evidence of a current diagnosed disability, or of symptoms that keep coming back.
• Evidence that establishes an event, injury, or disease happened in service.
• Some sign the two may be connected.

The event has to be established, not just mentioned. A credible statement can be what establishes it and gets you the exam.

What a layperson can't say

A diagnosis or a cause, with rare exceptions. The Board puts it this way: the cause of a condition is a medical determination. It generally has to be established by medical findings and a medical opinion. Your wife can say you've limped since 2009 and ice the knee every night. She can't say what's wrong inside the joint. If a statement tries to be a nexus letter, a doctor's opinion on the cause, the Board sets that part aside. A layperson isn't competent to say it, and it carries little or no weight.

What holds up at the Board

Four decisions show the pattern. Part two walks through each one in the Board's own words.

• Two statements that only repeated what the veteran said weren't enough to win (93-03604). The Board wanted personal observations, like limping, limiting strenuous activity, and pain on movement.
• A buddy statement helped prove a fall from a truck and reopen a claim (93-00216). It couldn't prove the medical link, and the claim still lost. You need both.
• Examiners ignored credible statements, and the Board held that an opinion based only on the absence of records is inadequate (1812000).
• A statement written more than 30 years after the injury, never mentioned at separation or in treatment, wasn't believed (23007000).

Being allowed to speak is half of it. Being believed is the other half. The Board weighs factors such as facial plausibility, internal consistency, consistency with the other evidence, self-interest, and statements made during treatment. A statement that matches your treatment records carries weight. One the records don't back up can get set aside.

How to write one

1. Who you are, how you know the veteran, for how long, and how often you see them.
2. If you saw the event, describe it. Where, when, what happened, what you saw next.
3. The veteran before. Specific and short.
4. What you've seen since. Dates or years where you can. How often. What it stops them from doing.
5. Daily life now. The workarounds. The things they quit.
6. Don't diagnose. Don't guess at causes. Don't exaggerate.
7. Sign it, date it, and certify it's true to the best of your knowledge. VA Form 21-10210, the lay witness statement, is built for this.

One or two pages, in the writer's own voice.

Prompts by condition

These are the things the rating rules turn on. Give your witnesses the questions and let them answer in their own words. The diagnostic codes are in Sources below.

Every condition on this site has its own free page under Decisions, built the same way: what the Board did, how often, and the decisions behind it.

Knee. Rated on instability and limited motion. Have you seen the knee give out or buckle? Do they wear a brace or use a cane, and did a provider prescribe it? Do they avoid stairs and squatting? Can they straighten the leg? Do they limp by the end of the day?

Back. Rated on how far you can bend forward, muscle spasm, guarding, and an abnormal walk. Can they bend to tie their shoes or lift something off the floor? Do they walk stiff or leaning? How often does their back go out and leave them stuck in bed, and did a doctor order the bed rest? Bed rest counts toward a rating only for disc disease, and only when a doctor ordered it. The flare-ups are still worth describing. What chores did they stop doing?

Sleep apnea. Rated on persistent sleepiness during the day, and on whether a breathing machine is required, such as a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. A bed partner sees things no exam room does. Do they snore loudly and stop breathing? Do they gasp or choke awake? Do they fall asleep at the table, in the car, in the middle of a conversation? When did the snoring start, and did it exist before service?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Rated under the formula for mental conditions. It turns on chronic sleep impairment, panic attacks, memory problems, and keeping relationships and a job. Impaired impulse control counts too, such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence. Do they wake up shouting? Do they check locks, sit facing the door, refuse crowds? Have you seen the anger come out of nowhere? Have friendships or jobs ended, and why? What were they like before they deployed?

A person can see every one of those. That's the point of the rule on lay evidence.

Be honest, and keep it specific

Step 9 of the method is be honest, and it applies here too. A statement that stretches the truth will conflict with the medical records, and the Board will find the conflict. Specific and true beats dramatic.

Ask the people who watched you go through it. They want to help. They just don't know what to write. Now they do.

This is education from public regulations and public Board decisions. I'm not your representative.