The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (bipolar disorder) and denied service connection for a low back disability, left arm burn scars, and right arm burn scars. The acquired psychiatric disorder is found to be aggravated by the Veteran's service-connected bilateral knee disabilities.
The deciding factor: A private psychologist provided an opinion linking the Veteran’s bipolar disorder to her service-connected bilateral knee patella chondromalacia due to a causal relationship between medical issues like her knee condition and psychiatric disorders like her bipolar disorder.
- Claimed conditions
- acquired psychiatric disorder (bipolar disorder), low back disability, left arm burn scars, right arm burn scars
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 18, 2018
- Citation
- 18136384
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 18136384.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that remand is needed for the Veteran's claims due to duty to assist errors, including clarification of periods of service and obtaining relevant records. The Veteran will be afforded new medical examinations for each claimed disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the claims of right shoulder disability and low back disability due to insufficient evidence.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection of a low back disability was granted with an effective date of January 9, 2018. The Board accepted her November 21, 2019 VA Form 20-0996 as a valid opt-in of the April 2019 SOC into the modernized review system.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal concerning diabetes and a low back disability has been dismissed due to their death during the pendency of the appeal.
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