The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for residuals of neck and shoulder injuries, chest wall injury with pneumothorax, fractured left rib, and diabetes mellitus. The claim for diabetes mellitus was denied as it was not incurred or aggravated in service and may not be presumed to have been incurred in service.
The deciding factor: The veteran did not have diabetes mellitus in service, and there is no evidence that it was related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes mellitus, residuals of back and neck injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 6, 2004
- Citation
- 0411868
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 0411868.
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
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Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Partly granted
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- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for diabetes mellitus and sleep apnea to obtain a TERA opinion due to the Veteran's participation in a toxic exposure risk activity during his service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations.
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