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Denied

The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, including stress, anxiety, and depression. The preponderance of evidence did not support a finding that her current psychiatric condition began during service or was related to any in-service injury, event, or disease.

The deciding factor: The VA medical opinions provided were deemed inadequate by the Board, leading to reliance on an August 2017 addendum opinion which concluded there is no nexus between any current psychiatric condition and in-service symptoms.

Claimed conditions
anxiety, depression
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
May 6, 2020
Citation
20031784

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 20031784.

What this means for you

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