The Board denied the veteran's claims of entitlement to service connection for a back disorder, gastrointestinal disorder and headaches. The decision concluded that his preexisting back disorder did not worsen during or as a result of his service, and there is no competent evidence linking his current diagnosed headaches with his service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the veteran's preexisting recurrent low back pain was noted at the time of his preinduction examination and did not undergo an increase in severity during service. The veteran currently has diagnosed tension headaches but there is no competent medical evidence etiologically linking these to his service or any incident therein.
- Claimed conditions
- Back Disorder, Gastrointestinal Disorder, Headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 8, 2002
- Citation
- 0209499
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 0209499.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for initial compensable ratings for obstructive sleep apnea and headaches, finding that the evidence does not support a finding of persistent daytime hypersomnolence or other manifestations consistent with a compensable disability rating under the criteria established by Diagnostic Codes. The matter is remanded to obtain additional information from the Veteran regarding his headaches and their impact on his daily life.
- Granted
The Veteran's OSA is granted as secondary to PTSD, but his headaches are denied due to lack of service connection.
- Granted
The Veteran's headaches, which manifested as very frequent and prolonged attacks causing severe economic inadaptability, are granted a 50 percent disability rating for the entire period on appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran seeks an earlier effective date for a 30 percent disability rating for his service-connected headaches, which was awarded with a noncompensable rating at 0 percent. The Board is remanding the claim due to inadequate examination and the need for a new VA examination to evaluate the severity of the Veteran's headaches without considering the ameliorating effects of any medication.
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