The Board has determined that the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's mood disorder is a result of his service-connected IBS, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
The deciding factor: The evidence presented by both the VA examiner and the private psychiatrist indicates that the Veteran’s mood disorder may be related to his service-connected IBS, with some conflicting opinions from other sources. The Board affords the benefit of doubt to the Veteran's claim based on this equipoise of evidence.
- Claimed conditions
- mood disorder
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 16, 2019
- Citation
- 19194127
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 19194127.
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 remands the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include major depressive disorder, mood disorder, and unspecified depressive disorder due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a mood disorder as secondary to the service-connected headaches or tinnitus, finding no probative evidence linking the two conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for further development, including obtaining private treatment records and scheduling VA examinations.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for an earlier effective date and a higher disability rating for stress-related headaches, as well as remanded the claim for a higher disability rating for a mood disorder due to a scheduling issue.
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