The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder has been reopened and granted.,Service connection for right traumatic ulnar neuropathy is granted as secondary to a service-connected disability.,Service connection for a right hand disorder, including degenerative arthritis, and a right shoulder disorder, including SLAP tear and degenerative arthritis, are denied as not related to the service-connected condition.
The deciding factor: New evidence has been submitted that relates to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate the claim of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder.,The right traumatic ulnar neuropathy is found to be caused by a fall resulting from his service-connected peripheral neuropathy, which qualifies as secondary service connection.,There is no evidence linking the current diagnoses of right hand and shoulder disorders to the 2014 fall or any other service-connected condition.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder, Right traumatic ulnar neuropathy, Right hand degenerative arthritis, Right shoulder labral tear (SLAP), Right shoulder degenerative arthritis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 7, 2020
- Citation
- 20065267
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,446 · Granted: 21% (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 20065267.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a low back disability and an increased rating for his acquired psychiatric disorder. The Board found that there was no evidence linking the current disabilities to military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for a determination on whether injuries sustained in a November 2001 incident were in the line of duty. The claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder is also remanded due to its interdependence with the line of duty issue.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a duty to assist error in failing to obtain private treatment records from the Veteran's treating clinician.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date of August 13, 2018, for the award of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder is granted. The Veteran also meets the schedular criteria for entitlement to TDIU prior to June 1, 2023.
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