Anxiety decisions — 2023

The Board has determined that there was not substantial compliance with the previous remand directives regarding service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including anxiety and depression. The case is being returned to the AOJ for further development.

The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to service-connected generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, obesity, and potential toxic exposure risk activities.

The Board denied service connection for unspecified psychiatric disorder, hypertension, and OSA as there is no persuasive evidence linking these conditions to the Veteran's military service.

The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, including GAD and persistent depressive disorder. The decision is remanded due to a duty-to-assist error regarding bilateral hearing loss.

The Board has remanded the claim due to a duty to assist error and will need to clarify the Veteran's mental health diagnoses and determine if any current acquired psychiatric disorder is superimposed on a previously-diagnosed personality disorder.

The appeal of the Veteran's claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, increased ratings for bilateral knee disabilities, and TDIU due to service-connected disabilities have been dismissed.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for a separate headache disability is denied as her headaches are considered part of her existing service-connected sinusitis.,The Veteran's psychiatric disorder does not meet the criteria for an increased rating, as it does not result in occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity.

The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for anxiety, depression, erectile dysfunction (secondary to anxiety and depression), hypertension, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (secondary to diabetes). The evidence does not show a current diagnosis of any of these conditions.

The Veteran's requests to reopen claims for service connection for GERD, a heart condition, hypertension, peripheral neuropathy in the bilateral upper and lower extremities, and PTSD with anxiety and depression have been granted. The Board has considered new evidence that was not previously of record at the time of the prior final rating decision.

The Veteran's unspecified anxiety disorder did not meet the criteria for a disability rating in excess of 30 percent from December 11, 2018 to December 10, 2019.

The Board has decided to remand the case due to inadequate nexus opinions provided by VA examiners, and a need for further examination.

The Board has remanded the case due to procedural errors and inadequate medical opinions. The Veteran's claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, lumbosacral strain, and left lumbar radiculopathy are being reviewed.

The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for left shoulder degenerative arthritis was denied. The Board has remanded the case to consider service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder due to a duty to assist error.

The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder to include PTSD, finding that the Veteran's current PTSD disability is related to his military sexual trauma during service.

The Veteran's service connection for a right foot disability, identified as right flatfoot, is granted. The Board also remanded several issues including the increased rating for GAD and the effective date of service connection.

The Board has remanded the case for further development due to insufficient evidence of in-service stressors for PTSD. The claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder other than PTSD remains pending.

The Veteran's appeal for increased ratings for anxiety and depressive disorder, as well as lumbar spine DJD prior to June 26, 2019, was denied. The Board found that the symptoms did not warrant a rating in excess of 50 percent for anxiety and depressive disorder or a rating in excess of 10 percent for lumbar spine DJD prior to June 26, 2019.

The Veteran's service-connected disabilities did not prevent him from securing and following substantially gainful employment.

The Board has determined that additional development is needed to obtain missing service treatment records and verify the Veteran's military service. The Veteran's left knee disability will also be examined by a VA examiner.

The Board has dismissed the appeal for an initial compensable disability rating for the service-connected chest scar. The earlier effective date claim for the assignment of a 100 percent disability rating for coronary artery disease is denied as it is not factually ascertainable that the Veteran's disability increased in severity prior to his April 18, 2022 claim. The Board has also remanded the issues of service connection for anxiety and depression.