The Board has granted service connection for chronic bronchitis and asthma, finding that the veteran's current respiratory problems are at least as likely as not related to his exposure to smoke in service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner provided diagnoses of chronic bronchitis and mild bronchial asthma based on the veteran's history of smoke inhalation during service and subsequent medical records showing obstructive impairment.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic bronchitis, asthma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 19, 2003
- Citation
- 0309229
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,458 · Granted: 24% (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 0309229.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's respiratory disability, including asthma and COPD, is denied as service connection is not warranted due to the condition being solely attributed to smoking.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the cases of sleep apnea and asthma due to a failure to provide proper notice for a hearing.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection for asthma and a 10 percent rating based on multiple noncompensable service-connected disabilities were dismissed. The claim of entitlement to a compensable rating for eczema was denied, while the claim of entitlement to allergic rhinitis was not addressed as it pertained to different issues.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him unable to secure and follow substantially gainful employment prior to August 14, 2023.
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