The Veteran's service-connected disabilities preclude him from obtaining or maintaining substantial, gainful employment, and a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) is granted.
The deciding factor: The probative evidence of record is at least approximately balanced that the Veteran was unable to obtain, or maintain, substantial, gainful employment from February 2002 to present.
- Claimed conditions
- persistent depressive disorder with anxious distress, lumbar spine degenerative joint disease, intervertebral disc syndrome, and stenosis, status/post fusion, right knee meniscal tear, limitation of flexion, left lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic), right lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic), left knee strain associated with right knee meniscal tear, limitation of flexion, tinea pedis with onychomcycoses, left ear scar, lumbar spine fusion scar (painful scar) associated with lumbar spine degenerative joint disease, intervertebral disc syndrome, and stenosis, status/post fusion, right knee scar associated with right knee meniscal tear, limitation of flexion, allergic rhinitis, chronic bronchitis, right knee meniscal tear, limitation of extension
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- November 17, 2025
- Citation
- A25099643
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 713 · Granted: 31% (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 A25099643.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection for asthma and a 10 percent rating based on multiple noncompensable service-connected disabilities were dismissed. The claim of entitlement to a compensable rating for eczema was denied, while the claim of entitlement to allergic rhinitis was not addressed as it pertained to different issues.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him so helpless as to be in need of regular aid and attendance, leading to the grant of SMC based on aid and attendance.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for an initial evaluation in excess of 30 percent for persistent depressive disorder with anxious distress and service connection for ulcerative colitis are being remanded due to the failure to obtain relevant medical records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a lack of adequate examination and opinion regarding the Veteran's claimed chronic bronchitis. The Veteran is seeking service connection for this condition, which was denied in an initial decision. The VA examiner did not address the medical record indicating a current diagnosis of chronic bronchitis.
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