The veteran withdrew his appeal for service connection for muscle and joint aches of the shoulders, elbows, legs, and feet, and swelling of the lower extremities, to include as due to an undiagnosed illness.
The deciding factor: The veteran's written statement indicating his intention to withdraw the appeal satisfied the requirements for withdrawal of a substantive appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- muscle and joint aches of the shoulders, elbows, legs, and feet, swelling of the lower extremities
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 22, 2008
- Citation
- 0816956
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 0816956.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for swelling of the lower extremities, finding that it did not originate in service and is not related to a service-connected disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's disability of the lower extremities manifested by recurrent swelling is granted on a direct basis. The Board also notes that VA treatment records confirm the Veteran suffered from symptoms of essential tremors and Parkinson’s disease, but does not grant service connection for essential tremors due to lack of evidence linking it to military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's hypertension and swelling of the lower extremities are being remanded for further examination to determine if they are related to service-connected diabetes mellitus type II.
- Denied
The Board finds that the Veteran's swelling of the lower extremities is a manifestation of his service-connected hypertension, and thus not a separate disability warranting service connection.
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