Other conditions Board decisions

The Board has determined that the appellant's discharge from service was due to willful and persistent misconduct, specifically drug use. As a result, he does not meet the criteria for being considered a veteran under VA regulations and is therefore ineligible for most veterans' benefits.

The Board has determined that the veteran's currently diagnosed irritable bowel syndrome is a result of dysentery he experienced during his military service in April 1945.

The Board has granted a 100 percent evaluation for service-connected Reiter's syndrome, effective from March 2, 1996.

The Board has determined that additional development is needed to properly evaluate the appellant's service-connected psychological factors affecting medical condition, rule out undifferentiated somatoform disorder. The case will be returned for further action.

The veteran's claim for special monthly compensation based on loss of use of a creative organ is being handled on the merits rather than as an attempt to reopen a previously denied claim. The RO must ensure that all notification and development action required by the Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 are completed, including reviewing the claims file and ensuring compliance with new notification requirements and development procedures.

The Board has granted service connection for hiatal hernia and residuals of a fatty liver, but denied service connection for the other conditions as they are not shown to be present or related to active service.

The veteran's request for a permanent and total disability rating for pension purposes based on non-service-connected disability is being remanded due to the need for additional development, including scheduling a hearing before a traveling section of the Board and obtaining Social Security Administration records.

The Board has decided that the veteran's current back disorder is related to his service-connected pre-existing condition, and thus grants service connection for it.

The veteran's appeal for an increased rating in excess of 30 percent for his left leg disability was dismissed as he withdrew the substantive appeal. The issue concerning an earlier effective date for the 30 percent rating remains pending.

The veteran filed a timely Notice of Disagreement (NOD) as to the June 1995 denial of his request for waiver of recovery of an overpayment of pension benefits. As a result, the appeal is granted.

The veteran's overpayment of VA improved pension benefits is waived due to the agency's partial fault in creating the debt and the resulting undue financial hardship.

The Board dismissed the motion for revision of a decision based on clear and unmistakable error due to its own vacating of the March 31, 1998 decision.

The Board has determined that the veteran's service-connected bilateral iritis warrants a 10 percent disability rating, resolving all doubts in favor of the claimant.

The Board has dismissed the appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death as she did not file a timely substantive appeal within the required time frame.

The appellant is not entitled to VA death pension benefits as she remarried after the veteran's death and her second marriage terminated by divorce.

The Board has determined that the appellant's residuals of a right femur fracture do not meet or approximate the criteria for a disability rating in excess of 20 percent.

The Board found that the appellant's overpayment was not due to fraud, misrepresentation, or bad faith. However, it is contrary to equity and good conscience to recover half of her debt incurred prior to August 1, 1997, but not for the portion incurred after that date.

The Committee denied the veteran's waiver request for an overpayment of vocational rehabilitation benefits, finding that she was at fault in creating her indebtedness and that principles of equity and good conscience precluded a waiver.

The Board denied the veteran's petition to reopen his claim of entitlement to recognition as a former prisoner of war for VA purposes due to lack of new and material evidence.

The veteran's appeal for Chapter 30 educational assistance benefits is denied as she does not meet the legal criteria for eligibility.