The Board denied service connection for a neck or back disability as there was no evidence of a chronic condition in service, arthritis within one year after discharge, or a link between the current disabilities and service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner opined that the Veteran's current neck condition is less likely related to his military service due to degenerative disease associated with aging, rather than an injury sustained during service.
- Claimed conditions
- neck or back disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 12, 2009
- Citation
- 0909200
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 271 · Granted: 23% (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 0909200.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the veteran does not have a neck or back disability that is attributable to service, and thus denied his claim for service connection.
- 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.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected musculoligamentous strain, right knee, is currently rated at 10 percent and the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.
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