The Board has granted service connection for diabetes mellitus with vision disability and increased ratings for the veteran's lumbar spine, cervical spine, and skull fracture disabilities. The effective dates are not specified as they were previously established.
The deciding factor: Service connection was granted based on clinical evidence of onset during active duty, and increased ratings were assigned based on current manifestations and diagnostic criteria.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis of the lumbar spine, traumatic degenerative changes of the cervical spine, cervical radiculitis of the 4th and 5th fingers of the right (dominant) hand, cervical radiculitis of the 4th and 5th fingers of the left (non-dominant) hand, residuals of a skull fracture
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- October 2, 2006
- Citation
- 0630974
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 0630974.
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 determined that additional development is needed for the claims on appeal, including obtaining any outstanding treatment records and scheduling VA examinations to assess the current severity of service-connected disabilities. The Veteran's representative also requested reevaluation of his service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, visual impairment, hypertension, and erectile dysfunction due to lack of exposure to herbicide agents during service. The Veteran's claims were not granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection on the merits are being remanded due to new evidence and development needs. The maximum disability rating for tinnitus has already been assigned.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, ischemic heart disease, right lower extremity peripheral artery disease, left lower extremity peripheral artery disease, and hypertension as the evidence did not establish an in-service event or exposure to herbicide agents.
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