The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for residuals of rheumatic fever and a lung condition noted as COPD and chronic bronchitis based on tobacco use and nicotine dependence during active service, finding no evidence of current disability or residual effects from rheumatic fever. The claim for COPD was remanded to obtain an opinion regarding the cause of the veteran's condition.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner could not provide a medical nexus between the veteran's current lung condition and her tobacco use during service due to lack of evidence in the record.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of rheumatic fever, lung condition (noted as COPD and chronic bronchitis)
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 14, 2006
- Citation
- 0629148
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,464 · Granted: 14% (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 0629148.
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