The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and awarded a rating of 100% effective from January 29, 2015. The earlier effective date claim for residuals of a right hand fracture was denied.
The deciding factor: The evidence supported the Veteran's account of military sexual trauma as the cause of his current psychiatric symptoms and he was granted service connection based on this finding.
- Claimed conditions
- persistent depressive disorder, other specified trauma and stressor-related disorder
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- November 18, 2020
- Citation
- 20073983
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,990 · Granted: 35% (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 20073983.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's service connection for other specified trauma and stressor-related disorder with persistent depressive disorder, anxious distress, and pure dysthymic syndrome was granted. The appeal for PTSD is dismissed as moot because the issue has been rendered irrelevant by the grant of service connection in another appeal stream.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, specifically other specified trauma and stressor-related disorder, which the Veteran contends is related to in-service helicopter incidents. The decision finds that the evidence supports a finding of a nexus between the current condition and service.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's persistent depressive disorder, moderate with anxious distress and panic attacks is related to his service in the Republic of Vietnam. The decision grants service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not render him so helpless as to require the regular aid and attendance of another person, but his service-connected persistent depressive disorder alone rendered him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation. The Board has granted SMC at the housebound rate.
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