The Board denied service connection for degenerative joint disease of the hips, hands, and knees as well as panic disorder with agoraphobia due to a lack of evidence linking these conditions to the Veteran's military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner opined that the Veteran's degenerative joint disease is more likely due to natural aging process rather than his military service. Additionally, there was no medical opinion linking any arthritis of the hands/fingers or panic disorder with agoraphobia to the veteran's period of military service.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative joint disease of the hips, Degenerative joint disease of the hands, Degenerative joint disease of the knees, Panic disorder with agoraphobia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 9, 2009
- Citation
- 0908715
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,458 · Granted: 24% (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 0908715.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Board denied the Veteran's claims for effective dates prior to May 30, 2008, for service connection of an acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD, panic disorder with agoraphobia, and depressive disorder not otherwise specified) and a low back disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
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- Denied
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- Denied
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