The reduction of the Veteran's disability rating from 70 percent to 40 percent for Traumatic Brain Injury was proper, as it reflected improvement in his condition.
The deciding factor: The Veteran demonstrated improvement in his TBI since the time he was originally rated, with a level of severity of '1' assigned to his memory, attention, concentration, and executive functions facet compared to a level of severity of '3' from an earlier examination. The current rating of 40 percent is appropriate based on this improvement.
- Claimed conditions
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- August 28, 2019
- Citation
- 19166938
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,948 · Granted: 29% (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 19166938.
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 a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its residuals, including unsteady gait, somnolence, and cognitive dysfunction. The decision is based on the Veteran's credible lay statements about in-service head injuries and subsequent seizures.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and therefore, service connection for TBI is denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for special monthly compensation based on aid and attendance due to service-connected TBI with PTSD is granted, effective September 6, 2018.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for special monthly pension (SMP) based on the need for aid and attendance is granted due to his cognitive impairment resulting from a motor vehicle accident in 2018, which has rendered him unable to work and needing assistance with daily activities.
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