The Veteran's service-connected disabilities are found to be so severe that they prevent her from obtaining or maintaining substantially gainful employment, and a TDIU is granted.
The deciding factor: Multiple medical opinions indicate the Veteran's service-connected conditions render her unable to work in her usual field of firefighting and preclude her from performing any physical employment. The combined effect of all her disabilities results in an inability to attend to basic work functions.
- Claimed conditions
- Major depressive disorder, Lumbar spine degenerative disc disease status post L4-S1 fusion, Radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, Radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, Tinnitus, Right thumb injury, Allergic rhinitis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- June 13, 2019
- Citation
- 19146052
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for chronic headaches, CFS, dermatosis, bilateral RLS, a lumbar spine disability, and sleep apnea but denied a compensable evaluation for allergic rhinitis.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's conditions are related to in-service noise exposure.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 17, 2019, for a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD but denied earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Partly granted
The Board granted readjudication of previously denied claims for service connection for PTSD and COPD, while remanding other issues including entitlement to service connection for an eye disorder, hypertension, tinnitus, a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, TDIU, and an initial rating for PTSD.
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