The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for schizophrenia as there was no medical or psychiatric evidence of the disorder during service or many years thereafter, and no competent evidence suggesting a nexus between this psychotic disorder and any incident of his brief period of active duty.
The deciding factor: There is no medical evidence of schizophrenia until decades post-service and no competent evidence suggesting a nexus to the Veteran's brief period of active duty.
- Claimed conditions
- schizophrenia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 20, 2009
- Citation
- 0910478
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,419 · Granted: 21% (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 0910478.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's schizophrenia is rated at 70 percent, indicating significant impairment in work and social functioning.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the claims for an effective date prior to August 18, 2016, for a 100 percent disability rating for schizophrenia and for spousal SMC for aid and attendance. The Veteran's claim was erroneously adjudicated by the AOJ and constitutes a free-standing earlier effective date claim.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that the Appellant's discharge from service is not a bar to VA compensation benefits, but it was an error in fulfilling VA's duty to assist not to obtain a medical opinion addressing the extent of any psychiatric symptoms during service and their effect on the Appellant's behavior. The matter is therefore remanded for further action.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's past-due benefits from the May 2024 rating decision were not fully paid to him, and the Board has ordered VA to quickly verify and pay any remaining amounts owed.
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