Depression decisions — 2024

The Board has remanded the case due to conflicting medical opinions regarding the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorders, including PTSD. A new VA examination is needed to determine if any current diagnoses are related to service.

The Veteran's PTSD and MDD have been rated at 70 percent since the April 2020 decision, but a higher rating is denied. The effective date for service connection of PTSD/MDD is also denied.

The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to inadequate VA opinions and requires additional examination.

The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings in multiple service-connected disabilities have been dismissed. A TDIU has been granted due to the combined effect of his psychiatric and physical disabilities.

The Board has dismissed the appeals for service connection for alcohol dependence, anxiety, COPD, insomnia, depression, and asthmatic bronchitis due to the Veteran's death.

The Veteran's major depressive disorder is rated at 70 percent, but no higher, for the entire period on appeal.

The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of adequate medical opinion regarding the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression. The claim will be reconsidered with new evidence.

The Veteran's claim for an increased rating or earlier effective date for PTSD and MDD with anxious distress is dismissed because the service connection was severed in a prior decision, making it impossible to grant such claims.

The Veteran's claims for service connection of acquired psychiatric disabilities, left lower extremity sciatica nerve disability, and right lower extremity disability are being remanded due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors. The Board will provide a VA examination to address the issues.

Temporary total ratings of 100% have been granted for periods of hospitalization due to service-connected PTSD from August 7, 2007, through September 30, 2007; November 14, 2012, through January 31, 2013; and October 14, 2020, through January 31, 2021.

The Veteran's service-connected adjustment disorder with anxiety and depression was granted an increased rating in November 2023, which resolved the appeal.

The Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 70 percent for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and his TDIU claim were both denied. The Board found that the evidence did not show total occupational and social impairment due to MDD, and that he was unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment.

The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and an acquired psychiatric disorder, finding no persuasive evidence of a current disability that comports with VA regulations.

The Board has determined that the Veteran's sleep apnea is proximately due to his service-connected major depressive disorder, and thus grants service connection for sleep apnea as secondary to major depressive disorder.

The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for major depressive disorder, recurrent, mild, with anxious distress as secondary to his service-connected lumbar strain.

The Veteran's claim for an initial rating of 70 percent for PTSD with unspecified depressive disorder has been granted, effective from February 16, 2017. The RO also remanded the issue of a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU).

The Board denied a request for an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for major depressive disorder, finding that the earliest date was April 28, 2009.

The Veteran's generalized anxiety disorder and unspecified depressive disorder have been rated at 70 percent since April 23, 2014. The Board has remanded the claim for a higher rating due to the severity of his symptoms.

The Board has remanded the case for further development, including scheduling a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of any psychiatric disability. The service connection for tooth number 9 disability is denied.

The Veteran withdrew his appeal for reducing his psychiatric disability rating from 50 percent to 30 percent, and the Board dismissed the case as a result.