The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for unspecified depressive disorder is denied.,The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection of left and right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy are remanded.,The Veteran's claim for severance of special monthly compensation based on housebound status is remanded.
The deciding factor: The evidence does not support a total rating for the depressive disorder, as there was no indication of total occupational and social impairment.,There is insufficient information to determine if earlier effective dates are warranted due to lack of proper notice of disagreement submission.,Further examination and review of the record are needed to determine if severance of special monthly compensation based on housebound status should be granted.
- Claimed conditions
- unspecified depressive disorder, ischemic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 24, 2019
- Citation
- 19132228
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,948 · Granted: 29% (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 19132228.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a heart condition, including ischemic heart disease. The evidence did not support a finding of a current disability related to service.
- Granted
The Veteran's ischemic heart disease is granted as presumptively related to his service in the Gulf War, specifically aboard the USS Chanticleer and USS Mataco.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, ischemic heart disease, right lower extremity peripheral artery disease, left lower extremity peripheral artery disease, and hypertension as the evidence did not establish an in-service event or exposure to herbicide agents.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a heart disability prior to his death is granted as he was entitled to accrued benefits due to the September 1994 claim, which included ischemic heart disease, a covered herbicide disease.
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