The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion regarding the nature and etiology of the Veteran's other specified bipolar and related disorder, specifically whether it is caused by or aggravated by his service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: Remand required to address pre-decisional duty to assist error in obtaining an opinion addressing aggravation of the Veteran's disability by his service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Other specified bipolar and related disorder
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 4, 2025
- Citation
- A25010084
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 845 · Granted: 39% (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 A25010084.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for an earlier effective date and increased rating for his service-connected other specified bipolar and related disorder were denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a higher disability rating or an earlier effective date.
- Granted
The Veteran's other specified bipolar and related disorder was found to have its onset during his active service, and the Board granted service connection for this condition.
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