The Veteran's major depressive disorder began in service and continues to persist. The Board has granted service connection for this condition. Other skin, diabetes, eye, erectile dysfunction, hypertension, bone loss, tinnitus, kidney, gallbladder, appendix tumor, rectal bleeding, headache, right leg nerve damage, left leg disability, sinusitis, and multi-site arthritis disabilities are remanded for further development.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's major depressive disorder was diagnosed during service and has continued since then. The Board found that the current diagnosis is related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- major depressive disorder, skin disability (spots in right leg and right shoulder, swollen hands and feet, bacteria on feet and discoloration), left arm skin rash, type II diabetes mellitus, eye disability (retinopathy, dry eye syndrome, cataracts, lattice degeneration of the retina), erectile dysfunction, hypertension, bone loss in face and skull, tinnitus, left kidney disability, gallbladder disability, appendix tumor, rectal bleeding, headache disability, right leg nerve damage, left leg disability, sinusitis, multi-site arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2021
- Citation
- 21065000
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 21065000.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has expanded the scope of the claim to include any mental health disorder raised by the record and has remanded for additional development regarding service connection for left leg, ankle, and psychiatric disabilities.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for specially-adapted housing assistance and a special home adaptation grant was denied because he does not meet the criteria for either benefit based on his service-connected disabilities.
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