The veteran's claim for an effective date earlier than November 19, 2003, for a 10 percent rating for sinusitis is granted. His other claims are either denied or continue to be pending based on the evidence currently available.
The deciding factor: The RO found that the evidence did not warrant increased ratings for most of the veteran's service-connected disabilities and continued the existing evaluations. The effective date claim was granted as there was no indication of a change in the evaluation prior to November 19, 2003.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertension, degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the right shoulder, degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the left shoulder, degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the lumbar spine, sinusitis, degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the ankles, degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the knees
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- February 15, 2006
- Citation
- 0604274
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,613 · Granted: 30% (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 0604274.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for additional development due to conflicting opinions regarding service connection for peripheral neuropathy, hypertension, and skin disabilities related to herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension and increased rating for anxiety disorder have been denied. The Board found that there is no evidence of a current disability meeting the criteria for hypertension, and the Veteran's anxiety disorder does not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
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