The Board denied service connection for residuals of rheumatic fever and arthritis, including rheumatic arthritis, as there was no competent evidence showing the veteran had a current disability related to his military service.
The deciding factor: There is no competent medical evidence linking the veteran's claimed conditions to his active service or any event during that time. The first diagnosis of arthritis was many years after discharge from service and there is no evidence of a nexus between the veteran's symptoms and service.
- Claimed conditions
- Residuals of rheumatic fever, Arthritis, including rheumatic arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- May 9, 2008
- Citation
- 0815452
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,011 · Granted: 24% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0815452.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case for further development and readjudication due to unavailable service treatment records, lack of a recent VA examination, and need for additional medical opinions.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has reopened the veteran's claims of service connection for a low back disorder and the residuals of rheumatic fever due to new and material evidence. The Board finds that these conditions are related to his military service.
- Whole decision: 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.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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