The Board granted service connection for other specified depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, and increased the ratings for thoracic spine degenerative changes, right knee degenerative disease, left knee degenerative disease, and right shoulder degenerative joint disease.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's symptoms during flare-ups supported higher ratings under the applicable diagnostic codes.
- Claimed conditions
- thoracic spine degenerative changes, right knee degenerative disease, left knee degenerative disease, right shoulder degenerative joint disease, right leg varicose veins, left leg varicose veins, other specified depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- May 21, 2025
- Citation
- A25045794
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 948 · Granted: 52% (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 A25045794.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's depression was rated at 50 percent prior to July 1, 2016. The Board found that the evidence did not support a higher rating due to occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity. For TDIU, the Veteran had multiple service-connected disabilities but his education and work experience were sufficient for sedentary or light labor employment.
- Dismissed
The appeal to sever service connection for right shoulder degenerative joint disease is dismissed.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD, major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, insomnia and alcohol use disorder caused his sleep apnea.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for back pain and neck pain, finding no current disability. The claim for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is remanded due to inadequate consideration of all potential exposures.,The claim for an acquired psychiatric disability (PTSD) is also remanded due to a lack of development of the Veteran's therapist's records.
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