The Veteran's claims for service connection for headaches, an innocently acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD), and lumbar and cervical spine degenerative joint disease were denied as there was no evidence of a current disability or that the claimed conditions are related to his military service.
The deciding factor: The lack of evidence showing a current diagnosis of a headache disorder, an innocently acquired psychiatric disorder, or PTSD, and the absence of any link between the Veteran's claimed conditions and his period of active duty was the deciding factor in denying the claims.
- Claimed conditions
- headaches, innocently acquired psychiatric disorder, to include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), lumbar spine degenerative joint disease, cervical spine degenerative joint disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 17, 2009
- Citation
- 0905645
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,599 · Granted: 37% (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 0905645.
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 has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete development of records and will provide a supplemental statement of the case if necessary.
- Partly granted
The Board has not made a final determination on the claims of service connection for inguinal hernia, PTSD, joint pain, fibromyalgia, left knee disability, right knee disability, tinnitus, chronic fatigue syndrome, respiratory disability, sleep disorder, IBS, and headaches. The claims are remanded to obtain additional evidence and determine if these conditions are related to service.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for headaches was reopened due to new and material evidence, and the Board found that his current headaches are related to service. Service connection is granted.
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