The Board remands the Veteran's claims for an increased rating and TDIU due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
The deciding factor: The AOJ failed to obtain relevant non-VA treatment records before issuing a decision, constituting a pre-decisional duty to assist error that must be corrected.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder, to include major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 20, 2025
- Citation
- A25045060
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,757 · Granted: 23% (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 A25045060.
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 an acquired psychiatric disorder, diagnosed as major depressive disorder with anxious distress, resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran. The claims for onychomycosis and tinea pedis, right gastrocnemius tear, right shoulder pain, and TMJ joint pain and dysfunction were remanded.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, was granted. Other claims were denied or remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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