The Board denied service connection for degenerative arthritis and disc disease of the cervical spine, finding no evidence that these conditions were incurred in or aggravated by military service, nor any competent evidence linking them to a shell fragment wound to the posterior neck.
The deciding factor: There was no evidence of any more than a soft tissue wound to the neck during service, and the degenerative changes in the cervical spine were not shown until many years after discharge from service. The Board found that the veteran's current conditions were not related to his military service or the shell fragment wound.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis and disc disease of the cervical spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 26, 2009
- Citation
- 0907277
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,642 · Granted: 19% (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 0907277.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's cervical spine disability is rated at 30 percent, effective June 18, 2016. The rating decision also increased the rating of the cervical spine disability from 10 to 30 percent effective April 27, 2017.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for degenerative arthritis and disc disease of the cervical spine, degenerative joint disease of both wrists, and degenerative joint disease of both hips as these conditions were not related to the veteran's active military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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