The Board found that the veteran's service-connected disabilities did not cause or contribute to his death, and denied entitlement to service connection for the cause of the veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The VA physician opined with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the veteran developed pneumonia due to his many medical problems and did not die as a result of an overuse of narcotics.
- Claimed conditions
- Right shoulder hemiarthroplasty, Left shoulder arthralgia, Right thigh myositis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 2, 2008
- Citation
- 0810866
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 425 · 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 0810866.
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 Veteran's claims for initial ratings for allergic rhinitis and left shoulder arthralgia are partially granted. The Veteran is awarded a 10 percent rating for allergic rhinitis prior to February 13, 2024, but his claim for a higher rating after that date is denied. His claim for the left shoulder condition remains pending due to remand requirements.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for further development, including scheduling a VA examination and obtaining medical opinions on the Veteran's cervical spine condition and left shoulder arthralgia.
- Granted
The veteran's claims for increased ratings for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine and left shoulder arthralgia were granted, with a rating of 40 percent for the lumbar spine effective prior to November 22, 2005.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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