The Board has determined that the veteran's service-connected disabilities render him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation, and thus grants a total rating based on individual unemployability.
The deciding factor: The combined service-connected evaluation is 80 percent, which renders the veteran unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation due to his service-connected disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- mechanical low back pain, herniated nucleus pulposus at L5-S1, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder with agoraphobia, benign essential tremor of the left hand, benign essential tremor of the right hand, second metatarsal osteotomy of the left foot
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 80%
- Decision date
- March 23, 2004
- Citation
- 0407485
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 0407485.
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 appeal is remanded to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including the failure to obtain relevant treatment records and provide adequate VA examinations.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including left foot condition, right foot condition, cellulitis, right ear hearing loss, and right lower extremity radiculopathy. The appeal of the proposal to reduce a 40 percent evaluation for lumbosacral strain was dismissed.
- 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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial rating of 70 percent for the Veteran's service-connected depressive disorder due to another medical condition with depressive features and generalized anxiety disorder, denied a higher rating for his migraine including migraine variants, and denied ratings for other conditions.
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