The Board granted service connection for a hiatal hernia, effective from July 1996. The veteran's claims for an increased evaluation of the hiatal hernia and earlier effective dates for lumbar spine injury, arthritis, Scheuerman's disease, kyphosis of the thoracic spine, right thigh hypesthesia, and COPD/chronic bronchitis were denied.
The deciding factor: The veteran did not submit an informal or formal claim for service connection for COPD/chronic bronchitis until August 18, 1995. The effective date of the award is the date of receipt of the claim, which was August 18, 1995.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/chronic bronchitis, lumbar spine injury
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 60%
- Decision date
- November 13, 2006
- Citation
- 0635281
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,645 · Granted: 19% (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 0635281.
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.
- Dismissed
The appeal concerning the service connection claims for various conditions and initial compensable evaluations for service-connected erectile dysfunction and bilateral hearing loss is dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Dismissed
The veteran withdrew her appeal for increased rating of hemorrhoids and service connection for COPD/chronic bronchitis, thus the Board has no jurisdiction to review these claims.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for left shoulder and elbow injuries due to a lack of evidence linking them to the Veteran's military service, and remanded the claim for lumbar spine injury for further development.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's injury to his right hand, index finger. The other claims have been dismissed due to withdrawal by the Veteran.
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