Lightening the VA's Rucksack: A Proposal for Higher Education Medical-Legal Partnerships to Assist the VA in Efficiently and Accurately Granting Veterans Disability Compensation

This Article is written in recognition that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a titanic bureaucracy that is unlikely to deliver benefits to veterans efficiently or effectively in its current state. While change of the entire system is desirable, radical change is unlikely to happen quickly. In light of this reality, this Article proposes a unique solution to the problem: a medical-legal collaboration between law and medical schools. This interdisciplinary approach allows veterans to benefit from skilled advocacy and advice at the most essential stages of a claim at no cost to the veteran. Through this partnership, law and medical students learn critical skills that will impact their future practices. Finally, this type of collaboration helps the VA make accurate decisions more efficiently.