The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for residuals of shrapnel wounds to the chest, legs, jaw, and ears as there is no current disability in these areas.
The deciding factor: There are no current disabilities found in the claimed conditions (chest, legs, jaw, and ears) that can be attributed to service.
- Claimed conditions
- chest, legs, jaw, ears
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- March 7, 2003
- Citation
- 0303989
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,643 · Granted: 15% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 0303989.
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 Veteran's service-connected gunshot wounds and PTSD did not cause or contribute to his death from cardiovascular conditions. The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of death.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate pre-decisional duty to assist errors, specifically regarding the adequacy of a VA opinion and its compliance with the Board's December 2021 remand order.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities (feet, legs, and back) render him unable to maintain substantially gainful employment, leading to a grant of TDIU.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a hips, legs, and toes disorder secondary to her service-connected left sciatic nerve disorder and lumbar spondylosis with multilevel degenerative spondylitic changes due to lack of evidence of an additional disability other than associated with her already service-connected left lower extremity radiculopathy.
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