Other conditions Board decisions

The Board has remanded the case for additional development, including obtaining records from Middlesex Memorial Hospital and other facilities where the veteran received treatment for psychiatric disorders.

The veteran withdrew his appeal regarding service connection for colorectal carcinoma, including due to inservice exposure to herbicides.

The Board denied the appellant's request for waiver of overpayment of pension benefits in the amount of $5,286.00 due to it being untimely filed.

The veteran's appeal was dismissed due to his death.

The Board denied the appellant's claim for an extension of her basic 10-year period of eligibility for receiving educational assistance benefits under Chapter 30 beyond February 1, 2005. The appellant was not granted a delimiting date beyond this date.

The Board finds that the veteran does not have a current thoracic spine disorder and therefore, service connection for this condition is denied.

The Board denied the appellant's claim for basic eligibility for VA benefits due to a lack of evidence of qualifying service with the US Armed Forces.

The veteran developed vestibulopathy as a result of gentamicin treatment for endocarditis. The VA physician concluded that the event was not reasonably foreseeable and thus, compensation benefits are granted under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1151.

The veteran's daughter, L.W., was not found to be permanently incapable of self-support as a child before her 18th birthday. The Board determined that the evidence did not support her claim for recognition as a helpless child.

The Board found that the veteran did not have current medical disability due to an in-service head injury and denied his claim for service connection.

The Board has remanded the case for additional development, including a VA examination to assess the veteran's occupational and functional impairment due to his service-connected ankylosing spondylitis. The TDIU claim is also being considered.

The Board has determined that there is no evidence of a present eye disability for VA compensation purposes as a result of an event, injury, or disease during active service. The claim for entitlement to service connection must be denied.

The Board found that new evidence did not establish a direct link between the veteran's adenocarcinoma of the colon and metastatic carcinoma of the right lung and his in-service asbestos or herbicide exposure. The claims were therefore denied.

The Board found that the March 1991 rating decision contained clear and unmistakable error (CUE) in failing to grant service connection for moderate muscle injury to Muscle Group XV and mild neuritis of the femoral nerve, which would have resulted in a higher evaluation. The veteran's current 30 percent evaluation for residuals of SFW to the left upper thigh is upheld.

The Board denied the veteran's request for an earlier effective date of July 14, 2003, for the grant of a 30 percent rating for his spontaneous pneumothorax. The veteran was awarded service connection in February 1957 and the last final denial of assignment of a compensable rating was in April 1960. There is no evidence of an increase in disability associated with the veteran's spontaneous pneumothorax within one year of July 2003.

The Board has determined that the veteran's diverticulosis did not begin in service and is not related to his period of service. Therefore, the claim for service connection for diverticulosis is denied.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for a lung disability and PTSD, finding no evidence of such conditions related to his military service or exposure to herbicides.

The veteran is seeking an earlier effective date for a 100% disability rating for schizoaffective disorder, but the case must be remanded to address whether there was clear and unmistakable error in the October 2001 rating decision. The RO should also adjudicate whether there was CUE in the January 1996 rating action which assigned an effective date of November 12, 1991.

The Board has denied the appellant's claim for service connection for cause of death and entitlement to DIC under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1318, finding that the veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability.

The Board found that the veteran's residuals of a crushing injury to the fifth metatarsal of the left foot are manifested by tenderness, painful motion, hammertoes, clawing of the fourth and fifth toe and hallux valgus. The preponderance of evidence does not support a higher rating than 10 percent.