The Board has granted a 100 percent evaluation for the service connected left pleural cavity injury, which requires outpatient oxygen therapy.
The deciding factor: Recent pulmonary function testing showed a DLCO of less than 40 percent of predicted value and required home oxygen therapy.
- Claimed conditions
- pleural cavity injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- April 8, 2003
- Citation
- 0306698
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,514 · Granted: 19% (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 0306698.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's TDIU was granted from April 17, 2006 due to service-connected PTSD and other disabilities meeting the schedular requirements for a TDIU. The effective date of December 31, 2009 is incorrect as evidence shows unemployability prior to that date.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development, including obtaining VA and private treatment records, scheduling a VA examination, and adjudicating the claims of service connection for a rib disability other than rib resection of the 10th posterior rib (to include additional rib removal) and a psychiatric disability (to include PTSD).
- Denied
The VA has denied a rating in excess of 20 percent for the Veteran's pleural cavity injury secondary to a shell fragment wound and spontaneous pneumothorax, as his symptoms do not meet or approximate the criteria for a higher disability rating.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, singly or in combination, do not preclude him from obtaining or maintaining any form of substantially gainful employment.
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