The Board denied service connection for drug and alcohol dependency, finding it was a result of the Veteran's own willful misconduct.
The deciding factor: Service connection may not be established for primary drug and alcohol abuse as it constitutes willful misconduct.
- Claimed conditions
- drug and alcohol dependency
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 1, 2019
- Citation
- 19175896
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,287 · Granted: 23% (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 19175896.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for further examination and opinion due to the Veteran's incarceration preventing VA from providing necessary examinations. The issues of service connection are inextricably intertwined with drug and alcohol dependency.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to non-compliance with previous remand directives and requires a new medical opinion on the etiology of the Veteran's drug and alcohol dependency.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded several issues related to service connection and initial ratings for disabilities, including fluoroquinolone toxicity, fibromyalgia, drug and alcohol dependency, cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis C, and a low back disability. The VA is required to obtain additional medical records and schedule examinations to address the etiology of these conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a back disorder and drug and alcohol dependency as there was no evidence of an in-service injury or disease, and the veteran's current conditions were not related to his military service.
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