The Veteran's claim for an effective date of April 26, 1994, for the grant of service connection for bipolar affective disorder is granted. The claims for earlier effective dates for TDIU and DEA are remanded.
The deciding factor: The July 1994 rating decision denied service connection due to lack of evidence showing a pre-service onset of bipolar affective disorder. However, the Court found that relevant records were associated with the file after the initial denial, allowing the original claim to remain pending and warranting an effective date of April 26, 1994.
- Claimed conditions
- bipolar affective disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 14, 2022
- Citation
- 22034616
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 22034616.
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 appeal for a rating in excess of 70 percent for bipolar affective disorder and PTSD, finding that the evidence did not support an increase in the current rating.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for bipolar affective disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder was dismissed as the Veteran withdrew her Notice of Disagreement before a final decision was issued.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case for further development, including verification of service dates and a new medical opinion on direct service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD, due to military sexual trauma (MST) for a comprehensive VA medical opinion.
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