The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, diagnosed as depressive disorder and GAD, finding that the evidence is at least evenly balanced in favor of the Veteran's claim. The decision resolves reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's current psychiatric disorders are related to his in-service stressor involving an aircraft crash on the USS Nimitz and affords probative weight to the medical opinions linking these conditions to service.
- Claimed conditions
- depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19185269
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 granted a disability rating of 50 percent for the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, characterized as depressive disorder, effective May 1, 2017.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for eye conditions, an acquired psychiatric disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction and left eye retinopathy. However, it denied increased ratings for multiple peripheral neuropathies, hypertension, and status post tympanoplasty.
- Partly granted
The Veteran is granted service connection for migraine headaches secondary to tinnitus, effective April 1, 2021. The claim for an earlier effective date for depressive disorder was denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for an acquired psychiatric disorder to obtain a VA examination and etiological opinion.
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