The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability, unspecified depressive disorder, is granted as service-connected.,The Veteran's neck disability (degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine) is granted as service-connected.,The Veteran's right arm disability (right olecranon bursitis and degenerative arthritis) is granted as service-connected.,The Veteran's left arm disability, to include osteoarthritis of the wrist, is remanded for further development.,The Veteran's right hand disability (right elbow disability) is granted as service-connected.,The Veteran's left hand disability (osteoarthritis of the wrist) is granted as service-connected.,The Veteran's diabetes mellitus is remanded to determine if it was aggravated by his third period of active duty or related to his first two periods.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner provided a nexus opinion linking the acquired psychiatric disability, unspecified depressive disorder, to the Veteran’s service and resolved all doubt in favor of the claim.,The VA examiner provided a nexus opinion linking the neck disability (degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis) to an injury sustained during active duty and concluded that it is at least as likely as not related to service.,The VA examiner provided a nexus opinion linking the right arm disability (olecranon bursitis and degenerative arthritis) to injuries sustained during active duty and concluded that it is at least as likely as not related to service.,The VA examiner did not provide an opinion on whether the left arm disability was incurred in or aggravated by service, thus remanding for further development.,The VA examiner provided a nexus opinion linking the right hand disability (right elbow) to injuries sustained during active duty and concluded that it is at least as likely as not related to service.,The VA examiner provided a nexus opinion linking the left hand disability (osteoarthritis of the wrist) to injuries sustained during active duty and concluded that it is at least as likely as not related to service.,The VA examiner did not provide an opinion on whether the Veteran's diabetes mellitus was aggravated by his third period of active duty or related to his first two periods, thus remanding for further development.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disability (unspecified depressive disorder), Neck disability, Right arm disability (right olecranon bursitis and degenerative arthritis), Left arm disability, Right hand disability (right elbow disability), Left hand disability (osteoarthritis of the wrist), Diabetes mellitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 5, 2021
- Citation
- 21000489
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 21000489.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of ambulance travel expenses incurred on June 17, 2025 due to an emergency heart attack. The ambulance service was provided by a volunteer organization and later intercepted by a higher-tier EMT company.
- Granted
The Veteran's GERD, neck disability, right and left upper extremity peripheral neuropathy have been granted service connection with effective dates of September 27, 2023.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for PTSD and neck disability due to inadequate medical opinions. The AOJ must ensure that new and relevant evidence is considered in determining whether there was a pre-existing condition of PTSD or neck disability, and if so, whether it was aggravated by service.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and thus denied his claim for service connection for cause of death.
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