The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion from a VA examination conducted in September 2012. The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as PTSD) is now pending and requires further development.
The deciding factor: The July 2018 VA examination did not provide sufficient information regarding the etiology of the diagnosed conditions, including whether they are related to military service or stressors. The examiner's opinion was insufficient and did not substantially comply with the Board’s remand directives.
- Claimed conditions
- Anxiety Disorder NOS, Depression NOS
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19190515
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,071 · Granted: 26% (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 19190515.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the appeal regarding whether there was clear and unmistakable error in the August 7, 2006 rating decision for service connection of mood disorder NOS with depression and anxiety. The effective date request is also denied.
- Denied
The Veteran seeks an earlier effective date for a 70% rating for anxiety disorder NOS with depression and PTSD features. The Board finds that the criteria are not met, as his entitlement to this rating arose after August 27, 2013.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for anxiety disorder with major depressive disorder, finding that the Veteran's current psychiatric symptoms are directly related to events during his military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the award of service connection and a 70 percent rating for Anxiety Disorder NOS is denied. The AOJ has consistently characterized this issue as being about the effective date, but no specific SOC or SSOC has been issued to characterize it as such.
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