The Board granted service connection for fatty liver disease, finding it to be at least as likely as not caused by or a result of the Veteran's behavior during service.
The deciding factor: The medical opinion from a VA physician that relates the fatty liver disease to the Veteran's service-connected diabetes mellitus put the matter in equipoise, and the evidence against the claim is not sufficiently persuasive as to comprise a preponderance of evidence.
- Claimed conditions
- fatty liver disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- February 5, 2009
- Citation
- 0904169
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 609 · Granted: 22% (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 0904169.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
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 Veteran's claims for service connection are remanded due to incomplete etiology opinions regarding secondary service connection.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a duty-to-assist error that occurred prior to the rating decision on appeal. The Veteran's fatty liver disease, post-liver transplant, is being remanded for an addendum opinion addressing the etiology of his liver disorders before and after his liver transplant.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal for service connection for paresthesias of the hands, hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, and fatty liver disease is remanded due to a failure to provide an examination regarding the nature and etiology of these conditions.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's fatty liver disease was granted a 20 percent rating from April 27, 2018 to May 14, 2020. The Board found that the Veteran's symptoms of daily fatigue, malaise, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, and upper quadrant pain warranted this rating.
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