The Board remands the claim for an acquired psychiatric disorder to obtain a new VA etiology opinion due to an inadequate previous opinion.
The deciding factor: The March 2021 VA examiner's opinion was insufficient as it did not provide rationale for its conclusions and failed to address the significance of post-service diagnoses.
- Claimed conditions
- Unspecified depressive disorder, Bipolar disorder, Alcohol use disorder
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 19, 2025
- Citation
- A25044586
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,432 · Granted: 29% (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 A25044586.
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 requests for an effective date prior to June 3, 2020 for the grants of service connection for PTSD and tinnitus. The decision states that VA did not receive an ITF in September 2019 as claimed by the Veteran or her representative, and thus no earlier effective date can be granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorders, particularly PTSD. The Veteran is seeking service connection for these conditions and related stressors.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected psychiatric and substance use disabilities required inpatient treatment at a VA-approved residential treatment center (RTC) from April to June 2020, exceeding the 21-day threshold for temporary total rating. The Board granted this claim.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD, bipolar disorder, and depression was granted. The claim for a low back disability was denied.
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