The veteran's claims for service connection for psychiatric disorders, including PTSD, depression, and schizoaffective disorder are being remanded due to the need for special procedures in handling personal assault allegations. The case is also being returned to allow a full year response period as per recent court decisions.
The deciding factor: Special procedures for developing evidence related to claims based on allegations of sexual assault have not been followed, and a one-year response period is required due to recent legal rulings.
- Claimed conditions
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, schizoaffective disorder
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 1, 2003
- Citation
- 0333378
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 0333378.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
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 service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder to ensure a proper examination and etiology opinion are provided.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include unspecified depressive disorder with social anxiety disorder and PTSD, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including back pain, knee and wrist joint pains, neck pain, anxiety, depression, as further development is needed to properly adjudicate these claims.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for generalized anxiety disorder and denied service connection for a lower back disorder. The claims for depression, substance abuse disorder, and a compensable initial rating for bilateral hearing loss were dismissed.
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