The Board denied service connection for heart disease and a bilateral elbow disorder, finding that the veteran did not have current disabilities or sufficient evidence to establish service connection.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no direct link between the veteran's current conditions and his military service, including exposure to herbicides.
- Claimed conditions
- Heart Disease, Bilateral Elbow Disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2004
- Citation
- 0402858
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 680 · Granted: 24% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0402858.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claims for specially adapted housing and special home adaptation grants were denied as they did not meet the criteria for assistance in acquiring such benefits due to lack of qualifying service-connected disabilities.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claim for PTSD was denied as there is no current diagnosis of PTSD.,The Veteran's claims for bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, heart disease, stroke residuals, diabetes mellitus, right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, right upper extremity peripheral neuropathy, and left upper extremity peripheral neuropathy were all denied as there is no current diagnosis of these conditions.,The Veteran's exposure to burn pits, Agent Orange, Camp Lejeune, radiation, Gulf War, or any other specific environment was not considered in this decision.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted service connection for PTSD due to MST, a bilateral elbow disorder, and a bilateral hand disorder. The remaining issues have been remanded.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for low back disability, left knee disability, right ankle disability, kidney disease, heart disease, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and acquired psychiatric disorder due to inadequate efforts in scheduling VA examinations.
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