The Board has denied the veteran's claims for service connection for polyarthritis as secondary to his service-connected rheumatic heart disease and a rating in excess of 10 percent for rheumatic heart disease.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the evidence is against a finding that any current polyarthritis was caused by, or increased in severity due to, the veteran's service-connected rheumatic heart disease.
- Claimed conditions
- polyarthritis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 18, 2002
- Citation
- 0218363
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 0218363.
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 remanded the claims for service connection due to insufficient medical opinions and further development is needed.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to an error in satisfying VA's duty to assist prior to the July 2019 decision.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including fibromyalgia, polyarthritis, and chronic Hepatitis C, rendered her unable to secure or maintain substantially gainful employment from April 23, 2008 to October 22, 2012. The Board granted a TDIU on an extraschedular basis for this period.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for a bilateral knee condition, joint pain (claimed as polyarthritis), and low back disorder due to insufficient medical opinions regarding whether these conditions are MUCMIs.
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