The Board remands the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death due to a lack of medical evidence linking his psychiatric disorder, which is believed to be related to his military service, to his suicide.
The deciding factor: A VA medical opinion is necessary to determine if the Veteran's chronic depression, possibly linked to his military service, contributed to his suicide.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic depression
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 17, 2025
- Citation
- A25108974
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 141 · Granted: 15% (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 A25108974.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal regarding the issue of entitlement to service connection for chronic depression.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal has been dismissed as he withdrew his appeal prior to the Board making a decision.
- Dismissed
The Veteran has withdrawn the appeal for service connection of multiple conditions, including bipolar disorder, PTSD, chronic depression, chronic anxiety, sleep disorder, degenerative disc disease, left knee meniscal tear, and substance abuse-alcohol.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for a compensable rating for healed stress fracture, left third metatarsal base with neurapraxia of left anterior tibial nerve and service connection for chronic anxiety, chronic depression, diabetes, and sleep apnea due to insufficient evidence.
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