The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability (depression) and a heart disability as currently diagnosed, finding that these conditions are related to the Veteran's service-connected mental health disability.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's current mental health symptoms, including his major depressive episode during active duty in 2007, were related to his service. The heart condition was also linked to his depression and stressors experienced during service.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disability (depression), Heart disability (myocardial infarction and coronary artery disease)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19189160
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,960 · Granted: 36% (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 19189160.
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 claims for further development due to insufficient evidence and need for additional examinations.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability (depression) is granted, while the claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU), to include as on an extraschedular basis, is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for further development due to missing Social Security Administration (SSA) records and need for additional medical examinations.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for HIV, depression, hypertension, and headaches as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were incurred or aggravated by active service.
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