Shoulder decisions — 2002

The Board has determined that the appellant's arthritis in his left shoulder and both hands was not incurred or aggravated during service, nor may it be presumed to have been incurred due to exposure to Agent Orange. The VA examiner found no evidence of arthritis within one year after separation from service.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his right shoulder disability, lumbosacral strain, and antral gastritis and duodenitis. The appeals were not about service connection.

The Board has determined that new and material evidence has been submitted to reopen the veteran's claim of service connection for a right shoulder disability, which was previously denied in May 1975.

The Board has reopened the claim for service connection for residuals of a left shoulder injury, including recurrent dislocation and degenerative joint disease (DJD), based on new medical evidence linking these conditions to an in-service injury. The claim is now granted.

The Board denied the veteran's claim to reopen his service connection for chronic right shoulder dislocation, finding no new and material evidence.

The Board found no evidence of any shoulder or knee injury in service and concluded that the veteran's current arthritis is not related to his military service.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for degenerative joint disease of the knees, feet, shoulders, and wrists, finding no evidence that these conditions are related to his military service.

The VA has determined that the veteran's right shoulder impingement syndrome does not warrant an evaluation in excess of 20 percent.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for arthritis of hands, shoulders, knees, ankles, and cervical spine, finding no evidence linking these conditions to his military service.

The VA denied an increased disability rating for the veteran's service-connected recurrent dislocation of the right shoulder, post-operative.

The Board denied higher ratings for the veteran's cervical spine and right shoulder disabilities, finding that the evidence did not support a rating in excess of 20 percent for the cervical spine disability or a rating in excess of 10 percent for the right shoulder disability.

The Board has granted a 40 percent evaluation for the service-connected right shoulder disability, effective from August 17, 1998. The rating for the service-connected anesthesia of the right ulnar nerve remains at 30 percent.

The Board has determined that the veteran's left knee arthritis warrants a compensable disability rating of 10 percent, and service connection for residuals of right shoulder acromioclavicular separation is granted.

The veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including as secondary to herbicide exposure (Agent Orange), were denied. The Board found no evidence of current disability or a link between the claimed conditions and Agent Orange exposure.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his right shoulder and right lung disabilities, finding that the evidence did not meet the criteria for a higher rating under VA's disability evaluation guidelines.

The veteran's appeal is being remanded to the RO for a hearing before the Board at the RO.

The Board found that the veteran's residuals of a shell fragment wound to the right shoulder, including his acromioclavicular traumatic arthritis, manifest no more than moderately severe injury to Muscle Group III and therefore warrants a 30 percent evaluation.

The Board found that the veteran's current neck injury is not related to his service-connected right knee disorder and denied his claim for service connection.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased evaluations for his service-connected left knee replacement and right shoulder disorder, finding that the schedular criteria did not meet the requirements for higher ratings.

The Board has denied the veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including cervical spine disorder, back disorder, bilateral shoulder disorder, tinnitus, rhinitis, otitis media, and residuals of tonsillectomy. The arthritis of the knees is separately rated at 10 percent.