The Board remands the claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and right shoulder disability to cure pre-decisional errors in VA's duty to assist the Veteran.
The deciding factor: VA failed to make reasonable efforts to obtain relevant private medical records that may bear on the Veteran's claims, which is a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder, including depression and substance and nicotine abuse, Right shoulder disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 26, 2025
- Citation
- A25027938
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 appeal for increased ratings for right and left shoulder disabilities, as the evidence did not support a higher rating under applicable criteria.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, finding a causal relationship between the condition and an in-service incident of military sexual trauma (MST).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 29, 2019 for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder but denied earlier effective dates and increased ratings for other conditions.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.