The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for cervical spine, lumbar spine, hemorrhoids, and right wrist ganglion cyst excision disabilities.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not show that the veteran's service-connected conditions warranted higher evaluations based on the current rating criteria.
- Claimed conditions
- retropatellar pain syndrome, right knee, retropatellar pain syndrome, left knee, degenerative spondylosis with disc bulging and neuroforaminal narrowing of the cervical spine, lumbosacral strain, hemorrhoids, residuals of right (major) wrist ganglion cyst excision with residual scarring
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2009
- Citation
- 0903189
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for lumbosacral strain, finding that the Veteran's low back injury occurred during a period of active duty for training (ADT) and continued therefrom.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 20 percent rating for right leg sciatica with radiculopathy pain and paresthesia, but denied increased ratings for PTSD, lumbosacral strain, left wrist limitation of motion with ganglion cyst, and service connection for headaches, unspecified. Several issues were remanded.
- Dismissed
The appeals for restoration of ratings and for a higher disability rating were dismissed as the April 2025 rating decision did not make final decisions on these issues.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for hemorrhoids due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error, requiring an additional direct medical opinion.
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