The Board has determined that the veteran's current cervical spine degenerative changes are not due to any event or incident of his period of active service, and therefore denied the claim for service connection.
The deciding factor: Service records do not show any complaints or findings related to a cervical spine condition during service. The car accident in February 1960 was determined to be AWOL at the time, thus not occurring in line of duty. Degenerative changes were first noted years after separation from service.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Changes of the Cervical Spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 7, 2006
- Citation
- 0603329
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,599 · Granted: 37% (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 0603329.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including asthma, migraines, PTSD, and TBI-related conditions, have rendered him unable to secure or maintain substantially gainful employment for the appeal period from May 14, 2018, to September 7, 2021, and from September 18, 2021, to September 7, 2022. Effective September 7, 2021, he is in receipt of a 100% combined schedular disability rating.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected degenerative changes of the cervical spine, status-post laminectomy have been rated at 20 percent since August 31, 2012. The Board has determined that this rating is appropriate based on the evidence showing no more than functional loss more nearly approximating forward flexion of the cervical spine of 20 degrees or greater.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's degenerative changes of the cervical spine with mild thoracic spine kyphosis, finding that it is related to an in-service injury.
- Granted
The Veteran has been diagnosed with degenerative changes of the cervical spine and provided credible statements of continuous symptomatology since service. The Board finds that the evidence supports a finding of service connection for this condition.
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