The Board has determined that the veteran's service connection claims for obesity, gastric ulcers, fatigue/chills, onychomycosis (brittle nails), twitching and suspension of breath while sleeping, soft tissue sarcoma of the right ankle, and lupus are denied as secondary to herbicide exposure. The effective dates for special monthly compensation based upon loss of use of a creative organ, service connection for chronic right knee strain, chronic left knee strain, diabetes mellitus with erectile dysfunction, diabetic retinopathy, increased rating for bilateral pes planus, and increased rating for residuals of ganglion cyst of the right wrist are also denied.
The deciding factor: The veteran's claims were not supported by evidence showing a direct link to service or any other established basis for service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- obesity, gastric ulcers, fatigue/chills, onychomycosis (brittle nails), twitching and suspension of breath while sleeping, soft tissue sarcoma of the right ankle, lupus
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 31, 2006
- Citation
- 0622544
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,325 · Granted: 31% (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 0622544.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's diabetes mellitus, type II, is granted on a secondary basis with obesity serving as an intermediate step due to service-connected low back disability, sciatica, and right shoulder disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The DIC claim is denied because the Veteran was not rated totally disabled for a continuous period of at least 10 years immediately preceding his death. The service connection issue is remanded due to duty to assist error.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases due to issues with the effective date for service connection and will consider new evidence submitted by the Veteran.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for obesity and obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected back, left hip, left knee and left lower extremity radiculopathy disabilities.
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