The Board remands the claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability and migraines to obtain additional medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The March 2024 VA examination did not address the holding in Spicer v. McDonough, which changed the standard for secondary service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- anxiety and depression, variously diagnosed (acquired psychiatric disability), migraines
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 13, 2025
- Citation
- A25043043
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 Veteran was granted a 70 percent initial disability rating for PTSD effective December 2, 2021, but the claim for an increased rating in excess of 70 percent was denied. The appeal also included claims for service connection and ratings for various conditions, some of which were granted while others were remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's appeal for an initial rating in excess of 30 percent for migraines, finding that his symptoms more closely approximate a 30 percent disability rating.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for migraines, including as secondary to cervical strain, due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors in not translating relevant Spanish documents and ensuring a VA examiner considered all evidence.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a restoration of the separate 10 percent rating for vertigo, an earlier effective date for service connection for vertigo and migraines, and a 30 percent rating for hypothyroidism with heart murmur. The decision also denied an earlier effective date for hypertension and remanded claims for obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, and individual unemployability.
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