The Veteran's appeal for special monthly compensation based on the need for aid and attendance is dismissed. The Board grants a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) due to service-connected disabilities including an unspecified depressive disorder with anxious distress, lumbosacral strain and degenerative arthritis, and radiculopathy of the left and right lower extremities.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation.
- Claimed conditions
- unspecified depressive disorder with anxious distress, lumbosacral strain and degenerative arthritis, radiculopathy of the left and right lower extremities
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 19, 2019
- Citation
- 19156191
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 19156191.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for unspecified depressive disorder with anxious distress and alcohol abuse, finding that there is no evidence of a current disability or a link to active service.
- Denied
The Veteran's disability picture, primarily due to Parkinson's disease and related manifestations, does not meet the criteria for SMC at the statutory housebound level as his other disabilities do not yield a combined rating of 60 percent.
- Denied
The Veteran's disability picture, primarily due to Parkinson's disease and related manifestations, does not meet the criteria for SMC at the statutory housebound level as his other disabilities do not yield a combined rating of 60 percent.
- Granted
The Veteran's unspecified depressive disorder with anxious distress is found to be proximately due to his service-connected coronary artery disease, and thus granted on a secondary basis.
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