The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, including posttraumatic stress disorder and other specified bipolar and related disorder, due to an inadequate medical opinion that fails to consider the Veteran's lay statements.
The deciding factor: The opinion is inadequate as it does not acknowledge and consider the Veteran's lay statements regarding his in-service experiences and emotional distress.
- Claimed conditions
- Other specified bipolar and related disorder, Posttraumatic stress disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 16, 2025
- Citation
- 25005141
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,677 · Granted: 26% (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 25005141.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's request for reentrance into a VR&E program and retroactive induction for restoration of Chapter 33 (Post-9/11 GI Bill) educational assistance benefits, finding that his service-connected disabilities did not worsen to the extent that he was precluded from performing the work duties of the occupation for which he previously was found rehabilitated.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for major depressive disorder was denied, and her request for an increased rating for PTSD was also denied. The Board found that the Veteran's symptoms did not meet the criteria for a higher disability rating.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal as to the proposed rating reduction of posttraumatic stress disorder because the May 20, 2021 rating decision did not effectuate a final and appealable action regarding this claim.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for an earlier effective date for posttraumatic stress disorder was dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
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