The Board found that the veteran's burn scars were not incurred or aggravated in service and denied his claim for service connection.
The deciding factor: The scars on the veteran's left leg, foot, and arm are not considered to be residuals of burns sustained while a POW or any other injury in service.
- Claimed conditions
- burn scars of the left leg, burn scars of the foot, burn scars of the arm
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- April 1, 2004
- Citation
- 0408521
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · Granted: 23% (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 0408521.
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 Board has determined that the appellant did not have any service-connected disabilities, and therefore denied all claims for service connection.
- Whole decision: Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal was dismissed due to his death, and the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of these claims at this time.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence and need for further development, including obtaining service medical records and personnel files.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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