The claim for service connection for depression is dismissed as moot because the Veteran's depression is already included in his service-connected PTSD.
The deciding factor: Depression is a symptom of the Veteran's service-connected PTSD and cannot be separately rated under 38 C.F.R. § 4.14.
- Claimed conditions
- depression, peripheral neuropathy of the left upper extremity, peripheral neuropathy of the right upper extremity, coronary artery disease prior to June 13, 2007, coronary artery disease since June 13, 2007, peripheral neuropathy of the left lower extremity prior to June 13, 2007, peripheral neuropathy of the left lower extremity since June 13, 2007, peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity prior to June 13, 2007, peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity since June 13, 2007
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 2, 2009
- Citation
- 0907540
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 325 · Granted: 20% (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 0907540.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for additional development, including obtaining in-service psychiatric treatment records and scheduling a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of any acquired psychiatric disorder.
- Denied
The Veteran's depression was rated at 50 percent prior to July 1, 2016. The Board found that the evidence did not support a higher rating due to occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity. For TDIU, the Veteran had multiple service-connected disabilities but his education and work experience were sufficient for sedentary or light labor employment.
- Granted
The Veteran's depression was rated at 50 percent prior to September 27, 2017. From September 27, 2017, the rating for depression increased to 70 percent.
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