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
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,012 · Granted: 24% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD, major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, insomnia and alcohol use disorder caused his sleep apnea.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for back pain and neck pain, finding no current disability. The claim for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is remanded due to inadequate consideration of all potential exposures.,The claim for an acquired psychiatric disability (PTSD) is also remanded due to a lack of development of the Veteran's therapist's records.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew their appeals for the claims of service connection for insomnia disorder with generalized anxiety disorder, pes planus, calcaneonavicular coalition bilateral feet secondary to right ankle sprain, and pes planus, calcaneonavicular coalition bilateral feet secondary to left ankle pain.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for PTSD, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, insomnia, unspecified psychosis, arthritis of the lumbar spine, degenerative disc disease, multilevel spinal stenosis, and arthritis of the cervical spine and degenerative disc disease. The diagnoses are linked to in-service physical assaults.
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