The Board has determined that a VA examination and opinion are needed to determine the etiology of the veteran's psychiatric disorder, which includes bipolar affective disorder and dysthymia. The appeal is being remanded for these actions.
The deciding factor: A VA examination is required to address the relationship between the veteran's current psychiatric disorders and service.
- Claimed conditions
- psychosis, bipolar affective disorder, dysthymia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 30, 2004
- Citation
- 0417511
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,419 · Granted: 21% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0417511.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for earlier effective date for service connection of acquired psychiatric disabilities was denied as the earliest date entitlement arose is April 16, 2019, which is later than the date of receipt of his July 19, 2019 supplemental claim.
- Granted
The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disabilities, including bipolar disorder, PTSD, MDD with psychotic features, depression, anxiety, alcohol use disorder, tobacco use disorder, and psychosis are found to have begun during service or be related to in-service events. The claims for sleep disturbances and bilateral eye disabilities are remanded.
- Granted
The March 2000 rating decision denying service connection for psychosis and depression was revised to grant it, with an effective date of June 17, 1999.,The April 2013 rating decision granting PTSD with depression, anxiety, and panic attacks was revised to reflect a more recent effective date of June 17, 1999.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claim of service connection for dysthymia due to inadequate medical opinions and the need for a new examination.
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