The Veteran's encephalopathy, resulting from VA treatment with Depakote in 2001, was found to be an additional disability not reasonably foreseeable. The Board granted compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151.
The deciding factor: The rarest side effect of the medication (encephalopathy) could not have been reasonably foreseen by a healthcare provider.
- Claimed conditions
- encephalopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2025
- Citation
- 25000646
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,836 · Granted: 31% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 25000646.
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 has denied the claims for service connection for encephalopathy and female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) as there is no persuasive evidence of current diagnoses or a link to service.
- Denied
The Board found no evidence linking the Veteran's causes of death to service or a service-connected disability, and thus denied the claim for service connection.
- Dismissed
The veteran withdrew the appeal for all service connection and increased rating claims, including those related to various conditions such as right foot condition, TMJ, asthma, jawbone condition, sleep apnea, kidney stones, chronic bronchitis, Alpha gal, encephalopathy, left shoulder, left ankle, cervical spine, right hip, tachycardia, loose teeth, and jawbone condition.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a psychiatric disability as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected disabilities and denied service connection for hernias. The issues of service connection for encephalopathy and special monthly compensation based on aid and attendance/housebound status were remanded.
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