The Board denied service connection for residuals of a right hand injury to include a fracture of the right 5th metacarpal, as there was no evidence that the current degenerative arthritic changes and degenerative joint disease were related to the in-service fracture.
The deciding factor: The current diagnoses of degenerative arthritic changes and degenerative joint disease of the right hand are less likely than not related to the in-service fracture of the 5th metacarpal, as there is no evidence of chronic residuals or continuity of symptomatology after service.
- Claimed conditions
- fracture of the right 5th metacarpal, degenerative arthritic changes of the right proximal interphalangeal joints, degenerative joint disease of the right 1st distal interphalangeal joint and right radial carpal
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 9, 2008
- Citation
- 0811788
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 734 · Granted: 9% (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 0811788.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral recurrent tinnitus is granted. The Board finds that the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the current tinnitus arose in service, and resolves all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Veteran's right hand disability, characterized by a strain with mild peripheral neuropathy of the right 5th metacarpal, is not considered to warrant an increased rating beyond the current 10 percent assigned.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected residuals of a fracture of the right fifth metacarpal, finding that the evidence did not support a higher evaluation. The appeal was also denied on whether new and material evidence had been received to reopen a claim for degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a fracture of the right 5th metacarpal, resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran. Service connection was denied for a fracture of the right 4th metacarpal.
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