The Veteran's claim for service connection for unspecified depressive disorder was granted because it is secondary to their service-connected degenerative arthritis of the spine and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's current depression disability was caused or aggravated by his service-connected back and lower extremity disorders, based on a private medical opinion and other objective medical evidence.
- Claimed conditions
- unspecified depressive disorder, degenerative arthritis of the spine, bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 3, 2025
- Citation
- A25000638
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 178 · Granted: 37% (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 A25000638.
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 appeal was dismissed due to their death during the pendency of the appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found the eligibility determination for PCAFC enrollment to be legally inadequate and remanded for a new medical opinion that adequately addresses the criteria for eligibility as set forth in VA regulations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection of a low back disability and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy, finding inadequate medical opinions due to failure to consider all relevant evidence.
- Granted
The Veteran's anxiety and depressive disorders were rated at a 70 percent disability rating effective May 6, 2015.,Effective May 6, 2015, the Veteran was granted an earlier effective date for DEA benefits.
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