The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability is granted secondary to service-connected cervical spine and mechanical upper back pain syndrome.,Bilateral leg pain is not found to be caused by the Veteran's service-connected conditions.,Cervical spine DDD was increased to 30 percent from March 8, 2007 onwards and to 40 percent from July 10, 2014 onwards.,Combined evaluations in excess of 30% prior to March 8, 2007 are denied as not meeting criteria.,A combined evaluation in excess of 60% (30% + 40%) is granted from July 10, 2014 onwards for cervical spine DDD and mechanical upper back syndrome.,Service connection for TDIU is denied.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability was found to be secondary to his service-connected cervical spine and mechanical upper back pain syndrome.,Bilateral leg pain was not determined to be caused by the Veteran's service-connected conditions.,Cervical spine DDD was increased based on current symptomatology, with no ankylosis or incapacitating episodes noted.,Combined evaluations in excess of 30% prior to March 8, 2007 were denied as not meeting criteria.,A combined evaluation in excess of 60% (30% + 40%) was granted from July 10, 2014 onwards for cervical spine DDD and mechanical upper back syndrome.,Service connection for TDIU was denied.
- Claimed conditions
- acquired psychiatric disability, bilateral leg pain
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 30%
- Decision date
- March 30, 2017
- Citation
- 1710161
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 1710161.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including a left wrist fracture, bilateral hearing loss, Type II diabetes, bilateral glaucoma, OSA, cervical disc herniation, and other musculoskeletal issues are denied.,Service connection is not established for any of the claimed conditions.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for his acquired psychiatric disability, finding that it is at least as likely as not due to or the result of his other service-connected disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for hypertension, equilibrium disorder (claimed as bad balance and equilibrium), bilateral restless leg syndrome, bilateral upper extremity tremor, melanoma, and acquired psychiatric disability due to a lack of adequate medical opinions regarding exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune and Agent Orange in Japan.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claims for tinnitus and an acquired psychiatric disability were dismissed due to improper concurrent elections.,The Board found that the Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of back, sciatic nerve, right shoulder, foot, skin, left-hand, or right-hand disabilities. The claim for headaches was also denied.
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