The Board found that the veteran's nonservice-connected conditions do not meet the criteria for a permanent and total disability rating for pension purposes due to their combined effect on his ability to engage in substantially gainful employment.
The deciding factor: The veteran's disabilities, while disabling, are not severe enough to preclude him from engaging in substantially gainful employment given his age, education, and occupational background.
- Claimed conditions
- recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax, neck and right shoulder residuals, degenerative joint disease, cervical spine with headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- September 17, 2001
- Citation
- 0122573
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0122573.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding the relationship between the Veteran's breathing issues and asbestos exposure.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities combine to a 90 percent disability rating, rendering him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for pes planus and dismissed the remaining issues of appeal.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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