The Board has determined that the Veteran's hepatitis C is proximately due to his service-connected other specified depressive disorder, other specified anxiety disorder with unspecified other (or unknown) substance-related disorder. Therefore, service connection for hepatitis C is granted.
The deciding factor: The Veteran’s hepatitis C is related to his self-medicating secondary IV drug use which was a form of self-medication for his depression and anxiety caused by or incurred during his service in the Army from 1971 to 1974.
- Claimed conditions
- Hepatitis C, Other specified depressive disorder, Other specified anxiety disorder with unspecified other (or unknown) substance-related disorder
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 18, 2018
- Citation
- 18119196
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 18119196.
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 Board denied a compensable initial rating for Hepatitis C, finding that the Veteran's condition was asymptomatic and did not meet the criteria for any higher rating.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's Hepatitis C with cirrhosis is related to service, and therefore grants service connection for these conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran's other specified depressive disorder is rated at 70 percent, but no higher, for the entire appeal period.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's depressive disorder is granted as service-connected, with the Board finding it related to his active duty service and aggravated by his service-connected tibia fractures. The claim for hepatitis C is remanded due to inadequate medical opinions regarding its etiology.,Service connection for depressive disorder is established based on direct evidence of a current disability (depressive disorder) that was incurred during active duty service.
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