com.veterans-rights/bva-corpus

search_bva_decisions

Search real U.S. Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) decisions by keyword, claimed condition, disposition (granted/denied/remanded), toxic-exposure basis, service-connection theory, PACT Act, and date. Returns vetted decisions with a plain-English summary, the deciding factor, and a link to the full decision. Use to ground any claim about how VA appeals have actually been decided.

find_similar_appeals

Given the facts of a VA disability appeal — claimed conditions, service-connection theory, toxic-exposure basis — analyze how similar real BVA decisions were decided: the grant / deny / remand breakdown, the grant rate, and representative example decisions. The highest-value grounding tool for "how have appeals like mine gone / what matters" questions. Educational statistics, not a prediction or legal advice.

check_presumptive_conditions

Check whether a condition may be a PRESUMPTIVE service connection for a veteran — meaning VA presumes it is service-connected for qualifying service/exposure, so no medical nexus needs to be proven. Covers Agent Orange/herbicides, PACT Act burn pits & airborne hazards, Camp Lejeune water, ionizing radiation, and Gulf War illness. Returns who qualifies, the legal basis, representative conditions, and how many vetted BVA decisions granted on this basis. Lists are representative, not exhaustive; educational only.

explain_appeal_options

Explain a veteran’s options after a VA decision under the Appeals Modernization Act (AMA): the three review lanes — Higher-Level Review, Supplemental Claim, and Board Appeal — and the three Board dockets (Direct Review, Evidence Submission, Hearing). Returns what each is, whether new evidence is allowed, who reviews it, when each is the best fit, and the general 1-year deadline. Optionally tailors a suggested starting point based on whether new evidence exists or a hearing is wanted. Educational only, not legal advice.

find_accredited_rep

Find a VA-accredited representative to help with a disability claim or appeal. By law only accredited people may represent veterans: VSO (Veterans Service Organization) representatives — who help FREE — plus accredited claims agents and accredited attorneys. This tool leads with free options first. Returns representatives filtered by state, city, type, and language. Attorneys/agents may only charge fees after an initial VA decision, per 38 CFR. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the VA.

estimate_combined_rating

Calculate a veteran’s VA combined disability rating from individual ratings, using the official whole-person formula (38 CFR § 4.25) — ratings do NOT add (e.g. 50% + 30% combines to 65% and rounds to 70%, not 80%). Supports the bilateral factor for paired-limb disabilities (§ 4.26). Returns the exact combined value, the final rating rounded to the nearest 10, and a step-by-step breakdown. Deterministic estimate for education; VA controls the official rating.

get_claim_process

Plain-English guide to the 8 stages of a VA disability claim, from Intent to File through the C&P exam, the rating decision, the three AMA review lanes, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and the 120-day CAVC court deadline. Call with no arguments for an overview of all stages with typical durations; call with a stage number (1-8) for a deep dive on that stage: what to expect, how long it takes, the key tip, and do/don’t guidance. Use this whenever a veteran asks what happens after filing, where they are in the process, what a C&P exam is, or what to do at their current stage. Educational only, not legal advice.

get_corpus_stats

Return live statistics about the Veterans’ Rights corpus: the number of vetted Board of Veterans’ Appeals decisions analyzed, the distribution of outcomes (granted / denied / remanded / mixed), the date range the decisions cover, and the number of accredited representatives in the directory. Use this to establish the scale of the data behind an answer, or when someone asks "how much data do you have / how current is it". Counts reflect only quality-filtered, publicly visible decisions.

No parameters.

list_conditions

List the standardized conditions the Veterans’ Rights corpus organizes Board of Veterans’ Appeals decisions under, each with the number of vetted decisions, grants, and remands (full-corpus counts) and the body-system category. Use this to discover which conditions have data, to get the exact slug for get_condition_report, or to compare how common / how winnable different conditions are. Counts reflect only quality-filtered, publicly visible decisions.

No parameters.

get_condition_report

For a single condition (by slug like "ptsd" or "sleep-apnea", or by common name/alias like "PTSD", "acid reflux", "ringing in the ears"), return a full corpus-grounded report: how its real Board of Veterans’ Appeals appeals turned out (granted / partly granted / remanded / denied), the service-connection theories that most often won, the disability ratings most commonly assigned, recognized exposure / PACT-Act pathways, a few representative decisions, and — when available — a plain-English, source-cited summary of how the VA defines and rates the condition. The richest single call for "tell me about VA claims for <condition>". Educational statistics, not a prediction or legal advice.