The veteran's claim for service connection for alcohol and drug dependence as secondary to his service-connected PTSD was denied, and he is not entitled to a combined disability rating higher than 90 percent.
The deciding factor: The veteran's service-connected disabilities do not combine to more than 90% when rated separately.
- Claimed conditions
- alcohol and drug dependence
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 19, 2006
- Citation
- 0621063
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,738 · Granted: 17% (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 0621063.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for the Veteran's psychiatric disability, as the evidence did not support a retroactive evaluation prior to April 15, 2013.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's TDIU claim is remanded due to the inextricability of his service connection claims. The Board will consider all pending service connection claims before deciding on the TDIU.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded all claims due to errors in the July 2021 decision, including inadequate opinions and reliance on negative evidence from the Veteran's enlistment report of medical history. The Court found that further development is needed for these claims.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for additional development, including obtaining VA medical records and conducting a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of any alcohol and drug dependence that may be present. The Veteran's service-connected PTSD with depression is being considered as potentially causing or aggravating his substance-related disorder.
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