The Board has denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, depressive disorder, and polysubstance abuse in remission, finding that new evidence does not establish a current diagnosis related to his active duty service. The claim for reopening the PTSD claim is granted.
The deciding factor: New evidence submitted by the Veteran includes diagnoses of PTSD from VA treatment records, which raises a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim but does not meet the criteria for establishing service connection due to lack of supporting in-service stressor and current diagnosis that relates to active duty service.
- Claimed conditions
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depressive Disorder, not otherwise specified, Polysubstance abuse in remission
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 5, 2013
- Citation
- 1340126
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 1340126.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD is granted as the evidence shows a current diagnosis of PTSD, an in-service stressor, and a medical link between the two.
- Denied
The Veteran's PTSD has been rated at 50% since March 23, 2004. The Board found that a higher rating is not warranted prior to February 15, 2005 due to the severity of his symptoms and their impact on his social and occupational functioning.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for PTSD and any acquired psychiatric disorder, finding that there was no evidence to support a link between his current mental health conditions and his military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's PTSD resulted in occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity, warranting a 70% disability rating. The Veteran also met the criteria for a TDIU due to his service-connected disabilities preventing him from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation.
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