Other conditions decisions — 2002

The Board denied a higher rating for the veteran's amputations of the left thumb, index, and middle fingers at the distal interphalangeal joints, currently rated as 60 percent disabling.

The appeal is being remanded due to the appellant's request for a hearing before a Member of the Board at the RO in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Board denied the claim for an earlier effective date for a 100% evaluation of conversion disorder, finding that no evidence supports such an earlier effective date based on either the one-year period prior to September 10, 1998 or any other relevant criteria.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of unauthorized medical expenses incurred after August 14, 2001 due to lack of evidence that he was stable and could be safely transferred to a VA facility.

The Board denied the appellant's claims for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death and for accrued benefits due to a malignant brain tumor, finding that there was no evidence linking the veteran's fatal anaplastic astrocytoma to his in-service herbicide exposure.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for a lung disability, including shortness of breath, due to an undiagnosed illness. The evidence did not show a current lung disability or objective signs and symptoms of disability.

The Board found that the residuals of a fracture of the right tibia and fibula resulted in mild degenerative arthritis, but no more than slight limitation of motion. The veteran's current evaluation for this condition remains at 10 percent.

The Board has reopened the veteran's claim of service connection for residuals of a right eye injury due to new and material evidence submitted, but it is at least in equipoise whether his current eye disability is related to an in-service injury.

The veteran's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is presumed to have been incurred during service due to exposure to herbicide agents, and the Board finds that he was likely exposed to such agents at Fort Knox in 1965. Therefore, his claim for service connection is granted.

The veteran's claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1151 was denied as there is no competent evidence that his current symptoms of left testicular pain are due to VA hernia repair procedures.

The Board dismissed the veteran's appeal because he did not timely file a substantive appeal regarding his initial compensable disability rating for left testicular atrophy.

The Board has determined that the veteran's paresthesias and pain in her left thigh warrant a 20 percent evaluation, resolving all doubts in favor of the veteran.

The veteran's claim for reimbursement of unauthorized medical expenses incurred during hospitalization at a non-VA medical facility in February 1993 is denied as the treatment was not for an adjudicated service-connected disability or associated with and aggravating an adjudicated service-connected disability.

The Board denied service connection for sleep disturbance, finding that it was due to an anxiety disorder rather than an undiagnosed illness related to the veteran's Gulf War service.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for an initial compensable rating for tendonitis of the right hip and a minimum 10 percent disability rating based on multiple noncompensable service-connected disabilities.

The Board dismissed the veteran's claim due to a lack of timely filing of a Substantive Appeal, as required by VA regulations.

The veteran's appeal for an earlier effective date for a TDIU was dismissed due to his death.

The Board denied service connection for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in April 1982, finding that the condition pre-existed service and was not aggravated by service. The moving party's motion alleging CUE in this decision is denied.

The VA denied an increased evaluation for postoperative status, excision of congenital dorsal cuneiform exostoses of the feet. The veteran's condition resulted in no limitation of motion or function.

The Board denied the veteran's application to reopen his claim for service connection for defective vision, finding that no new and material evidence had been submitted since the previous denial.