The Board has determined that the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability, diagnosed as major depressive disorder, is due to his service-connected TBI. The remaining issues of service connection for a bilateral eye disability and left knee disability are denied.
The deciding factor: The March 2016 VA examiner found it less likely than not that the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder was directly related to his service or caused by his service-connected TBI, but did not address the findings in the January 2014 VA examination indicating a residual of TBI included mental disorders.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Eye Disability, Left Knee Disability, Acquired Psychiatric Disability (Major Depressive Disorder), Seizure Disability
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- December 5, 2016
- Citation
- 1645499
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 1645499.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected knee disabilities are rated at 10% each, and the Board finds that higher ratings are not warranted based on the evidence of record.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral knee disabilities are not related to his active service, and thus denied both claims for service connection.
- Denied
The Veteran's left knee disability is currently rated at 30 percent, and the Board finds no evidence of clear and unmistakable error in assigning an effective date of June 19, 2002.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his low back, left knee, and right knee disabilities due to inadequate VA examinations. The AOJ is instructed to obtain private treatment records from Mays & Schnapp Pain Management and schedule the Veteran for additional medical examinations.
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