The Board granted service connection for avascular necrosis of the left hip, right hip, right shoulder, and left shoulder based on evidence supporting a link to the veteran's military service.
The deciding factor: The evidence supports a significant history of scuba diving in service and current diagnoses of avascular necrosis of both the hips and shoulders, with two opinions in favor of service connection and one concluding that the evidence was against such a link based at least in part on an inaccurate premise.
- Claimed conditions
- avascular necrosis of the left hip, avascular necrosis of the right hip, avascular necrosis of the right shoulder, avascular necrosis of the left shoulder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 5, 2009
- Citation
- 0904117
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,217 · Granted: 46% (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 0904117.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's right hip disorders are related to his active military service, and thus grants service connection for these conditions.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal was dismissed because the request for an extension of time to file a Board Appeal request was not timely and good cause was not shown.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a rating in excess of 40 percent for myasthenia gravis with ptosis and remanded the ratings for avascular necrosis, hip flexion limitations, and lower extremity weakness.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded due to a duty-to-assist error and the need for an addendum medical opinion regarding his right hip disability.
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