The Veteran's claim for service connection for a psychiatric condition other than PTSD is granted. The claim for service connection for PTSD is denied. The Board also found that the Veteran has a neck disability and remanded the case to obtain additional evidence.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran met the diagnostic criteria for 'Other Specified Trauma and Stressor Related Disorder' and that this condition was more likely than not related to in-service stressors, including observing the death of his civilian colleague. The Board also noted that there were no records available from the Veteran's wife regarding her treatment of his neck disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Other specified trauma and stressor related disorder, Neck disability
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 21, 2019
- Citation
- 19188020
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,092 · Granted: 42% (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 19188020.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for PTSD, and found that service connection is granted for major depressive disorder and other specified trauma and stressor related disorders.
- Granted
The Veteran's GERD, neck disability, right and left upper extremity peripheral neuropathy have been granted service connection with effective dates of September 27, 2023.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, including other specified trauma and stressor related disorder, is related to her military service. As a result, service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder is granted.
- Granted
The Veteran was granted service connection for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include other specified trauma and stressor related disorder, both determined to be directly related to his military service.
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