The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for right shoulder separation, left shoulder separation, and residuals of right 5th finger fracture. The claim for an increased rating for residuals of left 3rd middle finger fracture was also denied.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not establish current disabilities of the right or left shoulders, nor did it show that any current disability is related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- Right shoulder separation, Left shoulder separation, Residuals of left 3rd middle finger fracture, Residuals of right 5th finger fracture
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- February 24, 2004
- Citation
- 0405063
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,440 · Granted: 30% (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 0405063.
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: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that additional VA examinations are needed to assess the current severity and manifestations of the Veteran's service-connected right ankle, left shoulder, and left radial nerve injury disabilities. The issues on appeal have been remanded for further development.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's request for an earlier effective date of September 14, 2015, finding that this was the later of the date of claim and the date entitlement arose. The Veteran previously satisfied the schedular requirements for a TDIU as of August 5, 2011.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's right shoulder separation. The Veteran is asked to provide any additional relevant private treatment records and for a VA examiner to review his claims file and provide an opinion on whether his condition is related to service.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board found that there is no competent evidence linking the Veteran's hypertension to his service or to his service-connected coronary artery disease. Therefore, the claim for service connection for hypertension was denied.
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