The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient opinions regarding the nature and etiology of the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorders, specifically schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. The examiner is required to provide an opinion on whether these conditions clearly and unmistakably pre-existed service or are otherwise related to service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the June 2020 VA examiner’s opinions were not adequate for rating purposes due to insufficient discussion of the Veteran's mental health history, including his April 1964 psychiatric evaluation and March 1962 entrance examination.
- Claimed conditions
- schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 24, 2020
- Citation
- 20075131
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of December 12, 2023, for a 50 percent evaluation of bipolar disorder and remanded the other issues for further development.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired mental health condition, to include major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, based on new evidence.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bipolar disorder and denied increased ratings for the lumbar disability, left and right sciatica, and chronic sinusitis. However, it granted an increased rating of 40 percent from March 7, 2022, for left and right sciatic radiculopathy and restored a 30 percent rating for chronic sinusitis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, diagnosed alternatively as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder, due to an inadequate VA examiner's opinion and a failure to fulfill the duty to assist in obtaining relevant medical records.
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