The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for depressive disorder and anxiety disorder due to a lack of an opinion linking these conditions to his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA psychiatrist’s opinion is insufficient as it only reviewed records post-service, which does not satisfy the requirement that there be evidence indicating association with service.
- Claimed conditions
- depressive disorder, anxiety disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20004078
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.
- Granted
The Board granted a disability rating of 50 percent for the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, characterized as depressive disorder, effective May 1, 2017.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for depression, PTSD, and an anxiety disorder due to the lack of a current diagnosis.
- Partly granted
The Board dismissed the appeal for service connection for anxiety disorder and denied service connection for hearing loss. The claims for service connection for GERD, right ankle limitations, and sinusitis were remanded for further development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board dismissed the appeal for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disability (TDIU) and remanded several issues related to increased ratings for various disabilities.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.