The Board has granted service connection for disability of the muscles of the right front of the neck as secondary to the veteran's service-connected residuals of a shrapnel wound to the right shoulder. The Board also found that degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis are not related to the service-connected injury.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner attributed the pain in the right front neck area to the already-service-connected right shoulder disability, warranting secondary service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- neck pain, right shoulder disability, degenerative disc disease, osteoarthritis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 30%
- Decision date
- April 30, 2003
- Citation
- 0308158
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,500 · Granted: 17% (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 0308158.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's right shoulder disability and migraines/chronic headaches are remanded for additional development due to insufficient opinions on the etiology of her conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including right shoulder disability, abdominal hernia, GERD, bilateral ankle disabilities, and bilateral foot disabilities. The evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were incurred or aggravated during the appellant's period of active duty.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for residuals of gallbladder removal and remanded the other claims due to insufficient evidence.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for right shoulder, right shin, and left shin disabilities manifested by pain causing impairment in earning capacity. The decision is based on the Veteran's testimony regarding his symptoms during service.
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