An earlier effective date of October 26, 2011 is awarded for a 10 percent disability rating for thyroidectomy scar. Service connection for psychiatric disorder (depression) is granted.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's depression was caused by her service-connected thyroid cancer.
- Claimed conditions
- Thyroidectomy scar, Psychiatric disorder, to include depression
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- December 16, 2019
- Citation
- 19194093
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,569 · 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 19194093.
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 has granted service connection for thyroid cancer status post thyroidectomy, hypothyroidism secondary to thyroid cancer status post thyroidectomy, and a thyroidectomy scar due to herbicide exposure during service.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection were denied as he failed to report for scheduled VA examinations without providing good cause.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection of a low back condition, a skin condition, and a psychiatric disorder to include depression due to failure to substantially comply with prior remand orders.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the veteran's claims for further development due to incomplete records and inadequate examination reports.
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