7 canonical passages across 6 cases, quoted by 127 opinions in total. These passages cluster together because the same opinions keep quoting them side by side — they state parts of one doctrine. The anchor passage is from Jandreau v. Nicholson.
| # | Case | Flag | Canonical passage | Citers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jandreau v. Nicholson Anchor | green | “lay evidence can be competent and sufficient to establish a diagnosis of a condition when (1) a layperson is competent to identify the medical condition, (2) the layperson is reporting a contemporaneous medical diagnosis, or (3) lay testimony describing symptoms at the time supp…” | 42 |
| 2 | Donald Buchanan, Claimant-Appellant v. R. James Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs | green | “the board cannot determine that lay evidence lacks credibility merely because it is unaccompanied by contemporaneous medical evidence” | 25 |
| 3 | Davidson v. SHINSEKI | green | “all pertinent medical and lay evidence” | 18 |
| 4 | Wilson v. Derwinski | green | “symptoms, not treatment, are the essence of any evidence of continuity of symptomatology.” | 15 |
| 5 | Savage v. Gober | green | “symptoms, not treatment, are the essence of any evidence of continuity of symptomatology.” | 11 |
| 6 | Brian J. Eldredge v. Department of the Interior | green | “the board cannot determine that lay evidence lacks credibility merely because it is unaccompanied by contemporaneous medical evidence” | 6 |
A red or yellow flag on a member means the underlying case has negative treatment — for those, check the case page before relying on the passage.