Depression Board decisions

The Board found that the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, including major depressive disorder, was not incurred or aggravated in service and is not caused by his service-connected tinnitus.

The Board has determined that the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD and Depression, is related to his service in the Gulf War. As such, the claim for service connection is granted.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, specifically depressive disorder NOS, has been granted.,Service connection for a left knee disability was also granted. However, the effective date of this grant is set at February 25, 2009.

The Veteran's claim of service connection for PTSD is granted. The Board finds that the Veteran has a verified in-service stressor and meets the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Service connection is also granted for an acquired psychiatric disorder other than PTSD, but only to the extent it is related to his now service-connected PTSD.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, hypertension, asbestosis, testicular cancer (including prostate cancer), oral cancer, and lymph node cancer (secondary to prostate cancer). The reasons were that there was no evidence of a current diagnosis or link between these conditions and his military service.

The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for a personal hearing before a Veterans Law Judge to be held in Puerto Rico. The issues on appeal are related to his service-connected depressive disorder and TDIU.

The Board has decided to remand the case for additional development, including obtaining clarification of when a sexual assault occurred and obtaining records related to any sexually transmitted disease. The claim will be reconsidered after these actions.

The Board has determined that the Veteran's PTSD with depression, anxiety, and sleep disorder is attributable to his fear of hostile military or terrorist activity during service at the Korean DMZ. As such, the claim for service connection is granted.

The Veteran's obstructive sleep apnea is related to his service-connected depression, and the Board has granted service connection for this condition.

The Board has remanded the case for extraschedular consideration due to the combined effect of multiple conditions, including service-connected vertigo and depression. The Veteran's claim for an increased rating on an extraschedular basis is pending, as well as her claim for service connection for depression secondary to her service-connected vertigo.

The Veteran's appeal has been withdrawn by his representative, resulting in the dismissal of the case.

The Veteran's claims for service connection have been granted, with the exception of his claim for hyperlipidemia. The remaining conditions include an acquired psychiatric disorder (PTSD and anxiety disorders), bilateral knee osteoarthritis, hearing loss of the left ear, sleep apnea, hypertension, a low back disorder, bilateral hip osteoarthritis, tinnitus of the right ear, folliculitis, resection of left eye pterygium with residual faint nasal conjunctival scar, recurrent nasal pterygium of the right eye, and TDIU. The Veteran's hyperlipidemia claim is pending.

The Board has remanded the case for additional development due to VA's failure to request mental health care treatment records from a VAMC in Columbia, Missouri, since 2007.

The Board found that the Veteran does not have a diagnosis of PTSD and did not find any other psychiatric disability to be service-connected.

The Veteran's PTSD and depression have been found to be causally related to her active military service, granting the claim for these conditions. The claims of entitlement to service connection for lupus and sleep apnea are inextricably intertwined with the lupus claim and must be addressed together.

The Board has granted service connection for depressive disorder as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected multilevel mild degenerative discogenic change of the thoracolumbar spine.,Service connection is also granted for carpal tunnel syndrome of the right wrist, but the appeal was withdrawn by the Veteran.

The Veteran's claims for service connection have been denied. The Board found no evidence of a current disability related to the claimed conditions and insufficient medical nexus opinions.

The Veteran's myofascial pain syndrome of the cervical and thoracic spine is related to his military service, and the Board has granted service connection for this condition. The issue regarding PTSD remains pending as it involves other diagnosed psychiatric disorders.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for depression is granted. The Veteran also has a current rating of 40% for bilateral hearing loss effective December 6, 2012.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including depression and PTSD, is being remanded due to the need for further development of his claims, including obtaining VA medical records and a VA examination.