The VA determined that the veteran's recurrent pneumothorax was not incurred in or aggravated by his active service, attributing it to pneumonia and bronchiolitis secondary to smoking.
The deciding factor: VA found no evidence of a nexus between the veteran's respiratory disorder and injury or disease during his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- pneumothorax
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- January 13, 2005
- Citation
- 0501070
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,177 · 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 0501070.
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 remands the claims for service connection for asthma, sarcoidosis, and pneumothorax to correct pre-decision duty-to-assist errors.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a respiratory/lung disability to obtain additional evidence, including inpatient records from a German hospital and an adequate VA examination.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board remanded the claim for service connection of respiratory disabilities, including asthma and COPD, due to inadequate medical opinions. The Veteran will undergo another VA examination.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran was granted service connection for pneumothorax with an effective date of December 30, 2021.,Service connection for intercostal neuralgia was also granted with the same effective date.
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