The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including his left thumb condition and anxiety disorder, prevent him from obtaining and maintaining gainful employment. The Board has granted entitlement to Extra-Schedular Total Disability Rating based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) for the entire period of appeal.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's left thumb condition causes frequent dropping of objects, making manual labor unsuitable. His anxiety disorder also makes him unsuitable for front-facing positions involving customer interaction.
- Claimed conditions
- osteoarthritis carpal metacarpal joint left thumb, unspecified anxiety disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- November 24, 2023
- Citation
- 23062436
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 23062436.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for unspecified anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder to obtain an adequate medical opinion regarding their etiology.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's award of total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is granted effective from April 15, 2017, solely based on his unspecified anxiety disorder. The claim for an earlier effective date for service connection for right lower extremity radiculopathy was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for higher initial evaluations for unspecified anxiety disorder and service-connected heart disability from March 31, 2021 to December 28, 2022.
- Granted
The Board granted earlier effective dates of February 20, 2021, for service connection for unspecified anxiety disorder and February 2, 2022, for service connection for migraine with tension headaches.
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