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The VA orders this exam to verify your diagnosis and measure how severe it is right now. It can shape your rating and your monthly compensation — but it does not decide your claim. A rating specialist weighs it against your full record, and if the exam does not reflect your condition, you can say so and ask the VA to correct it.
When is your exam?
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The lasting effects of a stroke (cerebrovascular accident), which may include weakness or paralysis, speech difficulties, and cognitive problems. The VA rates stroke residuals based on the specific impairments that remain after the initial recovery period.
The percentages this diagnostic code can be rated at. Which one applies depends on the findings — no tool here can tell you in advance.
Rated under 38 CFR 4.124a, DC 8008. The examiner records findings on the DBQ; a rating specialist makes the decision.
| Rating | Rating criteria | What that means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | In every instance where the schedule does not provide a zero percent evaluation for a diagnostic code, a zero percent evaluation shall be assigned when the requirements for a compensable evaluation are not met. | More than six months have passed since your stroke and examination finds no ascertainable residuals — no weakness, no sensory change and no speech or language difficulty — so the minimum rating for residuals under this code is not available. This code prints no 0% rung of its own; § 4.31 supplies it: no monthly payment, but the condition is on record and a later increase runs from it. The lowest compensable level under this code is 10 percent. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 10% | Rate the vascular conditions under Codes 8007 through 8009, for 6 months: 100 percent. Rate residuals, thereafter, minimum: 10 percent. | You have mild residuals from a stroke such as slight weakness, mild sensory changes, or minor speech difficulties. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 30% | With the exceptions noted, disability from the following diseases and their residuals may be rated from 10 percent to 100 percent in proportion to the impairment of motor, sensory, or mental function. Consider especially psychotic manifestations, complete or partial loss of use of one or more extremities, speech disturbances, impairment of vision, disturbances of gait, tremors, visceral manifestations, etc., referring to the appropriate bodily system of the schedule. | You have moderate residuals from a stroke. You have noticeable weakness, moderate speech or cognitive impairment that affects daily activities. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 60% | With the exceptions noted, disability from the following diseases and their residuals may be rated from 10 percent to 100 percent in proportion to the impairment of motor, sensory, or mental function. With partial loss of use of one or more extremities from neurological lesions, rate by comparison with the mild, moderate, severe, or complete paralysis of peripheral nerves. | You have moderately severe residuals from a stroke. You have significant weakness or paralysis on one side, significant speech or cognitive impairment. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 100% | Rate the vascular conditions under Codes 8007 through 8009, for 6 months: 100 percent. With the exceptions noted, disability from the following diseases and their residuals may be rated from 10 percent to 100 percent in proportion to the impairment of motor, sensory, or mental function. With partial loss of use of one or more extremities from neurological lesions, rate by comparison with the mild, moderate, severe, or complete paralysis of peripheral nerves. | You have total disability from stroke residuals. You may have complete paralysis of one or more extremities, total inability to communicate, or require nursing care. |
What supports this level
| ||
The middle column is our transcription of the criteria at 38 CFR 4.124a, DC 8008, condensed for reading. Read the section itself on eCFR before relying on the exact wording. The items under each level are the kinds of evidence that document it — not a VA checklist, and not a prediction of which level applies to you.
Not claiming each stroke residual separately — paralysis, speech impairment, cognitive decline, vision loss, and bladder dysfunction can each be rated individually.
Not documenting the stroke onset during or within presumptive period after service.
Missing the connection to service-connected cardiovascular conditions like hypertension, diabetes, or heart disease as secondary.
Not getting neuropsychological testing to document cognitive deficits that may not be obvious on a standard exam.
These apply to every C&P exam, whatever the condition.