The Board denied service connection for the veteran's claimed conditions as there was no evidence of an inservice injury or disease and a nexus to his current disabilities.
The deciding factor: There is no competent medical evidence linking any of the veteran's claimed conditions to his active military service, and the gaps in treatment records indicate that he did not experience chronic symptoms following separation from service.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine with radiculopathy, Cervical spinal cord injury with radiculopathy, Left eye condition, Bilateral elbow condition, Right shoulder condition, Right knee condition, Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Tinnitus, Left ear hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2009
- Citation
- 0903250
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 20 percent rating for the Veteran's left knee strain, service connection for right ear hearing loss, and service connection for a right ankle disorder. Other claims were denied or remanded.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's conditions are related to in-service noise exposure.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 17, 2019, for a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD but denied earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Partly granted
The Board granted readjudication of previously denied claims for service connection for PTSD and COPD, while remanding other issues including entitlement to service connection for an eye disorder, hypertension, tinnitus, a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, TDIU, and an initial rating for PTSD.
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