The petition to reopen a claim of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability is granted. The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, including PTSD related to military sexual trauma (MST), is remanded due to the need for additional development and examination.
The deciding factor: New evidence has been submitted that relates to unestablished facts necessary to substantiate the claim of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, specifically a stressor related to MST. The Veteran's claim requires further development including a VA examination to determine if PTSD is linked to active military service.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disability (claimed as PTSD)
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19121274
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,037 · Granted: 21% (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 19121274.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 10 percent disability rating for the residuals of a 5th digit fracture of the right hand and denied a compensable disability rating for bilateral hearing loss. The other claims for service connection were remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that a new examination is needed for the Veteran's knee and hearing loss disabilities, as well as an expanded psychiatric disability claim. The claims are being remanded to allow for these examinations.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, specifically PTSD, as there was no evidence of a current diagnosis and no in-service stressor that could be verified.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, specifically PTSD, as the evidence did not support a finding that it was related to active duty service.
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