The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, specifically schizophrenia and other specified trauma and stressor-related disorder. The examiner is required to provide a thorough discussion on whether these conditions are related to service or pre-existed service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner failed to discuss the Veteran's service personnel records regarding his in-service mental health problems and whether they represented a prodromal phase of subsequent psychiatric disease.
- Claimed conditions
- schizophrenia, other specified trauma and stressor-related disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 10, 2022
- Citation
- 22063197
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 22063197.
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.
- 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 Veteran's schizophrenia is rated at 70 percent, indicating significant impairment in work and social functioning.
- 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.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the claims for an effective date prior to August 18, 2016, for a 100 percent disability rating for schizophrenia and for spousal SMC for aid and attendance. The Veteran's claim was erroneously adjudicated by the AOJ and constitutes a free-standing earlier effective date claim.
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