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
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal is remanded to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including the failure to obtain relevant treatment records and provide adequate VA examinations.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including left foot condition, right foot condition, cellulitis, right ear hearing loss, and right lower extremity radiculopathy. The appeal of the proposal to reduce a 40 percent evaluation for lumbosacral strain was dismissed.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial rating of 70 percent for the Veteran's service-connected depressive disorder due to another medical condition with depressive features and generalized anxiety disorder, denied a higher rating for his migraine including migraine variants, and denied ratings for other conditions.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for generalized anxiety disorder and denied service connection for a lower back disorder. The claims for depression, substance abuse disorder, and a compensable initial rating for bilateral hearing loss were dismissed.
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