The Board remands the claims for a disability rating in excess of 70 percent for major depressive disorder and service connection for a thoracolumbar spine disability due to missing records from the Shreveport VAMC.
The deciding factor: The decision was based on pre-decisional duty to assist errors, specifically the failure to consider additional relevant records from the Shreveport VAMC that were in constructive possession of the RO at the time of the March 2024 rating decision.
- Claimed conditions
- Major depressive disorder (MDD), Thoracolumbar spine disability
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 2, 2025
- Citation
- A25030612
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, effective August 28, 2018, due to clear and unmistakable error in the October 2018 rating decision. Service connection was also granted for major depressive disorder (MDD) as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Denied
The Board denied increased ratings for bilateral hearing loss, horizontal surgical scars of the anterior neck, and major depressive disorder (MDD), but granted an extraschedular total disability rating based on individual unemployability as of November 12, 2015.
- Denied
The Board denied the motion to revise or reverse on the basis of clear and unmistakable error (CUE) a September 13, 2023 rating decision that granted service connection for PTSD, MDD, and insomnia disorder effective from March 1, 2021.
- Denied
The Board denied the motions for revision of the July 2015 rating decision on the basis of clear and unmistakable error (CUE) to assign higher disability ratings for cervical spine, thoracolumbar spine, right shoulder, and right elbow disabilities.
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