The Veteran's claim for service connection of a back condition is being remanded due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.,The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for his acquired psychiatric condition is being remanded as the proper effective date is based on when the condition arose, not when he filed his initial claim.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not consider the Veteran's lay statements and STRs in their examination, which were relevant to the Veteran's claims.,The Veteran's acquired psychiatric condition was granted service connection with an effective date of November 22, 2019. The Board is unable to provide a prior effective date as the March 2010 decision became final.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired Psychiatric Condition, Degenerative Arthritis with Degenerative Disc Disease of the Thoracolumbar Spine (Back Condition)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 8, 2024
- Citation
- A24045181
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 A24045181.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), headaches as residuals of TBI, and an acquired psychiatric condition including Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Persistent Depressive Disorder, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) secondary to service-connected headache residuals.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for TBI, nose condition, and acquired psychiatric condition have been denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a finding of in-service injury or disease related to these conditions.,Specifically, regarding TBI, the Board determined that the Veteran's statements about an in-service incident were not credible due to inconsistencies with his prior medical records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further examination and opinion regarding the Veteran's acquired psychiatric condition, as there was a pre-decisional duty to assist error in failing to consider all relevant evidence. The service connection for bilateral hearing loss remains denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of complete service treatment records and personnel files, which may affect the determination of service connection for an acquired psychiatric condition. The Veteran's claim will be reconsidered with these additional records.
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