The Board has determined that the veteran's current low back disorder is incurred in service, and thus grants service connection for this condition. The other issues of bilateral hearing loss, bilateral hip disorder, and hypertension are remanded for further development.
The deciding factor: Service records show multiple instances of back injuries during active duty, with a diagnosis of low back strain in 1960 and treatment for lumbosacral pain in 1963. The veteran's current condition is found to be at least partially related to his service injury.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hearing loss, Bilateral hip disorder, Hypertension, Low back disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 2, 2003
- Citation
- 0311244
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 271 · Granted: 23% (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 0311244.
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 Board denied the claim of service connection for hypertension, finding that it did not manifest during service and is not causally related to the Veteran's exposure to herbicides or service.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a low back disorder was reopened, and his claims for increased ratings of bilateral knee instability were granted. His hearing loss claim was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his current condition and active duty service or herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for hypertension and has remanded the issue of an increased rating for skin condition.
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