The Board granted compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for a neck injury with nerve damage and service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include anxiety and depression, as secondary to the neck injury.
The deciding factor: The private medical opinion provided by Dr. M.R. was deemed more probative than the VA examiner's opinion, leading to the conclusion that the Veteran's additional disability was not reasonably foreseeable and that his psychiatric conditions were related to the neck injury with nerve damage.
- Claimed conditions
- anxiety and depression, neck injury with nerve damage
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 25, 2025
- Citation
- A25038388
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 705 · Granted: 38% (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 A25038388.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims of service connection for bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, hypertension, and anxiety and depression. The evidence did not meet the criteria for these conditions to be considered disabilities under VA regulations.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a respiratory disability as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected mental disorder, finding that his anxiety and depression significantly worsen his respiratory condition.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for right ear hearing loss, tinnitus, anxiety and depression, bilateral knee pain, and lower back pain as they are already decided in another appeal stream.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for anxiety and depression, cervical spine disability, right upper extremity radiculopathy, left upper extremity radiculopathy, low back disability, right lower extremity radiculopathy, and left lower extremity radiculopathy. Service connection was denied for hypertension.
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