The Board denied service connection for an unspecified depressive disorder as it was not caused or aggravated by the Veteran's service-connected disabilities. The claims of increased ratings and TDIU were also remanded.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran’s depression was more likely due to his situational and life stressors, such as alcohol abuse, marital issues, and financial dependence on relatives, rather than his service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- unspecified depressive disorder, sprain of right ring (4th) finger, lumbar muscle strain with disc narrowing at L3-4, right lower extremity radiculopathy, left lower extremity radiculopathy, cervical spondylosis with referred left shoulder pain
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19165485
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 882 · Granted: 17% (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 19165485.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals were dismissed due to the death of the appellant. The issues related to service connection for various conditions and disability ratings.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a lumbar spine disability, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine disability.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for left lower extremity radiculopathy and denied the claims for right knee disability, erectile dysfunction, GERD, sleep apnea, and hypertension. The decision is remanded for further action on these issues.
- Granted
The Board has granted earlier effective dates for the grant of service connection for middle and index trigger finger/stenosing tenosynovitis of the right hand, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy. The earliest effective date is June 30, 2012, for the right hand condition and April 22, 2016, for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy.
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