The Board has determined that the Veteran's current adjustment disorder with a depressed mood is secondary to his service-connected disabilities of residuals of left ankle sprain and low back strain, and thus service connection for this condition is granted.
The deciding factor: The evidence in favor of the claim includes a private medical opinion indicating that the Veteran’s symptoms are related to his chronic pain due to his service-connected conditions, which is recognized as secondary to those conditions by relevant resources.
- Claimed conditions
- adjustment disorder with a depressed mood
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 6, 2019
- Citation
- 19134880
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,350 · Granted: 26% (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 19134880.
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 found that the veteran does not currently have an acquired psychiatric disorder, including an adjustment disorder with a depressed mood and a depressive disorder. Therefore, service connection for such disorders was denied.
- Denied
The Board found that the veteran's pre-existing psychiatric conditions, including adjustment disorder with a depressed mood and bipolar disorder, existed prior to his military service. The Board concluded that these conditions were not aggravated by his brief period of active duty.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
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