The Board remands the claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and a bilateral foot condition to obtain additional evidence and provide the Veteran with adequate medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The current medical opinions are found inadequate as they relied on the absence of documentation in the record to the exclusion of the Veteran's lay statements, which are competent to report symptoms experienced during service and since discharge.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder, to include chronic anxiety disorder, Bilateral foot condition (pes planus, hammertoes, acquired pes cavus)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 3, 2025
- Citation
- A25031194
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.
- 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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, a right knee disorder, and a lumbar spine disorder.
We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.
This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.