The Board of Veterans' Appeals has denied the veteran's claim for a permanent and total disability evaluation for pension purposes due to his nonservice-connected disabilities, as they do not render him unemployable.
The deciding factor: The combined rating assigned to the veteran's non-service connected disabilities is 20 percent, which does not meet the required threshold for a permanent and total disability evaluation under any analysis (schedular or extra-schedular).
- Claimed conditions
- gastrointestinal reflux disease, deviated nasal septum, colon polyps
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- September 26, 2001
- Citation
- 0123412
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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0123412.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied a compensable disability rating for the Veteran's deviated nasal septum, finding that there were no compensable symptoms and that the evidence did not support a higher rating.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's deviated nasal septum was granted service connection. The claims for anxiety and sleep disturbance, erectile dysfunction, headaches, acid reflux, hypertension (high blood pressure), irritable bowel syndrome, and jaw condition were denied.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities alone are of sufficient severity to produce unemployability, meeting the schedular criteria for a TDIU throughout the appeal period. However, conflicting work history makes it impossible to determine his employment status during the period on appeal.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's service-connected deviated nasal septum did not meet the criteria for a compensable disability rating, as it did not result in 50-percent obstruction of the nasal passage on both sides or complete obstruction on one side. Therefore, the appeal is denied.
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