The Board has reopened the veteran's claim for service connection for a psychiatric disability due to new and material evidence submitted since the August 1999 denial. The case is now remanded for further examination and determination of whether the current condition is related to service.
The deciding factor: New medical records indicate that the veteran may have an underlying psychiatric disorder masked by substance abuse, which could be associated with his active military service.
- Claimed conditions
- psychiatric disability
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 20, 2003
- Citation
- 0332433
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0332433.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a psychiatric disability to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error, specifically regarding the presumption of soundness at entrance into service.
- Denied
The Board denied higher initial disability ratings for the service-connected psychiatric disability and denied earlier effective dates for TDIU, SMC at the schedular housebound rate, and DEA benefits.
- Partly granted
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a left shoulder disability, while remanding claims for bilateral plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendonitis, psychiatric disability, right hip disability, left hip disability, and back disability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 70 percent disability rating for the Veteran's psychiatric disability and also granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU), but denied an earlier effective date for service connection.
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