The Veteran's claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as PTSD) and traumatic brain injury were denied because the evidence did not support a causal relationship between these conditions and his military service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there was no credible evidence of a verified in-service stressor or head injury, and that any diagnosed mental health issues predated service by more than two decades. The Veteran's assertions about an in-service incident were deemed unreliable due to the passage of time and lack of contemporaneous records.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as PTSD), Traumatic brain injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 14, 2019
- Citation
- 19186072
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · 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 19186072.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date of July 10, 2010, for the award of special monthly compensation based on need for regular aid and attendance due to residuals of traumatic brain injury under 38 U.S.C. 1114(t) is granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied an increased rating for right knee patellar tendinitis and has remanded the issue of service connection for a traumatic brain injury.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and eye disability due to inadequate medical opinions based on inaccurate factual premises, and a need for further VA examinations.
- Granted
The Veteran's TDIU and SMC at the housebound rate are granted as of August 8, 2020 due to his service-connected psychiatric disorder preventing him from securing or maintaining substantially gainful employment.
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