Service connection is granted for a right ankle disability, including arthritis.,Service connection is also granted for an acquired psychiatric disability, specifically major depressive disorder, as secondary to the service-connected right ankle disability.
The deciding factor: The evidence supports that both conditions are causally related to the Veteran's military service and his service-connected right ankle disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired Psychiatric Disability, Right Ankle Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19153962
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,549 · 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 19153962.
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 Board has granted service connection for right and left ankle disabilities, as well as denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss. The Veteran's claims for other conditions are remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Granted
The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability is rated at 100 percent, and he is granted SMC based on housebound status. The issue of entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is dismissed as moot due to the grant of a 100 percent schedular rating for his service-connected acquired psychiatric disability.
- Denied
The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is rated as noncompensable prior to August 19, 2024 and at a 20% rating since that date.,The Veteran's depressive disorder is rated as 30% prior to December 1, 2022 and at a 40% rating since that date.,The Veteran's lumbar spine disability is rated as 20% prior to December 1, 2022 and at a 40% rating since that date.,The Veteran's left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy is rated as 10% prior to August 3, 2024 and at a 20% rating since that date.,The Veteran's right lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy is rated as 10% prior to August 3, 2024 and at a 20% rating since that date.,The Veteran's left lower extremity femoral nerve radiculopathy is rated as 20% since August 3, 2024.,The Veteran's right ankle disability is rated as 10% prior to August 27, 2024 and at a 20% rating since that date.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include PTSD, finding that the Veteran's current condition is related to her military service and not a pre-existing condition. The decision also acknowledges that her service-connected disabilities may have contributed to her current mental health issues.
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