The Veteran's service-connected disabilities render her unable to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation, warranting the grant of TDIU.
The deciding factor: The Veteran has multiple service-connected disabilities that limit her physical capabilities and have led to her inability to maintain employment in her previous field as a home health nurse.
- Claimed conditions
- other specified trauma and stress-related disorder, C4-C7 degenerative disc disease with surgical fusion, L5-S1 degenerative disc disease with fusion and spinal cord implant, rheumatoid arthritis of the right heel (Haglund's deformity), left anterior neck scar, right flank scar, midline low back scar
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 80%
- Decision date
- August 23, 2019
- Citation
- 19165806
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,858 · Granted: 24% (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 19165806.
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 Veteran was granted an initial 70 percent rating for panic disorder, insomnia disorder, and other specified trauma and stress-related disorder, as well as a TDIU from August 28, 2020 to September 23, 2021, and basic eligibility for DEA benefits during the same period.
- Partly granted
The Board granted readjudication of the issue of service connection for a psychiatric disability, to include anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and other specified trauma and stress-related disorder, based on new and relevant evidence.
- Denied
The Veteran's midline low back scar is rated as noncompensable, and the Board finds no basis for a compensable rating under any applicable diagnostic codes.
- Granted
The Veteran's diabetes mellitus, type 2 is granted as presumed due to herbicide exposure. The right flank scar issue has been remanded for further examination and rating.
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