The Board denied service connection for COPD, Right Shoulder Disability, and Left Knee Disability. The veteran's COPD is not considered to have been incurred in or aggravated by military service. His Right Shoulder Disability and Left Knee Disability are also not considered to be related to his military service.
The deciding factor: There was no evidence linking the current conditions to the veteran's military service.
- Claimed conditions
- COPD, Right Shoulder Disability, Left Knee Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 27, 2003
- Citation
- 0305860
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 127 · Granted: 25% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0305860.
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The Veteran's left knee disability is currently rated at 30 percent, and the Board finds no evidence of clear and unmistakable error in assigning an effective date of June 19, 2002.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for COPD, finding that there is no evidence of a nexus between his current respiratory disability and active duty service. The VA examiner concluded that the COPD was more likely due to tobacco use rather than asbestos exposure in service.
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