The Board has determined that the veteran's claimed conditions are not shown to have been present in service or for many years thereafter, and thus denied his claims for service connection.
The deciding factor: Service records were destroyed, making it impossible to determine if any of the claimed conditions were present during active duty. The medical evidence does not support a finding that these conditions began during service or are otherwise related to military service.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral defective hearing, acquired psychiatric disorder (depression and anxiety with panic attacks and sleep loss), hepatitis (including hepatitis A), residuals of cold injury (frostbite, swollen legs and feet, swollen hands and fingers), malaria, disorder characterized by grand mal seizures, rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis, Type II diabetes mellitus, peripheral vascular disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 7, 2004
- Citation
- 0409023
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 0409023.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for Type II diabetes mellitus, finding that it is secondary to the Veteran's service-connected unspecified depressive disorder.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that Type II diabetes mellitus and hypertension, which are presumed to have resulted from herbicide exposure during service, contributed substantially to his demise.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for an adequate medical opinion regarding the Veteran's in-service toxic exposure risk activities, including jet fuel and other fuels, to determine if they contributed to his cause of death.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral macular hemorrhage, resolving all doubt in the Veteran's favor. The claims for other disabilities were remanded for further development.
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