The Board found that the veteran did not acquire an HIV infection during service or currently has an HIV-related illness, and thus denied his claim for service connection.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence was negative for any indication of HIV infection or HIV-related illness in service or at present.
- Claimed conditions
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-related illness
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 14, 2005
- Citation
- 0501346
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,467 · Granted: 18% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0501346.
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 has determined that the Veteran's HIV-related illness began during his active service and grants the claim for service connection.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for HIV-related illness was denied as the earliest possible effective date is August 4, 1986, which is the day following his separation from active service.
- Denied
The Veteran's HIV-related illness is currently rated at 30 percent, and the Board finds that it does not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case for additional development, including a new VA examination to assess the current severity of the Veteran's HIV-related illness and determine whether his tongue lesion represents an opportunistic infection or neoplasm.
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