The Board found no evidence linking the veteran's current shoulder, wrist, and lumbar spine conditions to his military service. The absence of medical records from service is not considered a fault of the veteran.
The deciding factor: There was no competent evidence showing that arthritis or any other disability of the lumbar spine, either shoulder, or wrists were incurred in or aggravated by active service.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Arthritis of Right Shoulder, Degenerative Arthritis of Left Shoulder, Degenerative Arthritis of Both Wrists, Degenerative Arthritis of Lumbar Spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 18, 2006
- Citation
- 0625627
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,419 · Granted: 21% (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 0625627.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his lumbar spine disability and TDIU due to procedural errors in the duty to assist.
- Denied
The Veteran's right shoulder condition is not deemed a qualifying additional disability due to VA care, and the claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 has been denied.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his right and left knee replacements, as well as degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine, were denied. The evidence did not support a higher rating under any applicable diagnostic codes.
- Denied
The Veteran's right thumb and hand conditions were denied initial compensable ratings.,Service connection for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine was dismissed as it has been granted in full.
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