The Veteran is granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities since July 31, 2014. The combined rating for the service-connected conditions (Persistent Depressive Disorder and Status post gunshot wound in the right shoulder) meets the threshold requirements under VA regulations.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's service-connected Persistent Depressive Disorder and Status post gunshot wound in the right shoulder prevent him from maintaining substantially gainful employment due to his functional limitations with physical impairment and psychiatric symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- Persistent Depressive Disorder, Status post gunshot wound in the right shoulder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- January 17, 2019
- Citation
- 19104214
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,200 · Granted: 43% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 19104214.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for persistent depressive disorder with anxious distress was granted, effective January 17, 2024. The Board has now granted an earlier effective date of May 31, 2019.
- Granted
The Veteran's persistent depressive disorder is rated at 70 percent, the highest available rating under the General Formula for Mental Disorders. The other issues have been denied.
- Dismissed
Your previously granted service-connected acquired psychiatric disability, characterized as PTSD with persistent depressive and insomnia disorder, now represents a full grant of the benefit sought on appeal. The appeal is dismissed.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of persistent depressive disorder was denied as the earliest date of claim is January 29, 2010.,The Veteran's appeal for a higher disability rating for his persistent depressive disorder was also denied. The current assigned rating of 70 percent has been in effect since at least December 2012.
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