The Board granted service connection for a fracture of the right 5th metacarpal, resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran. Service connection was denied for a fracture of the right 4th metacarpal.
The deciding factor: Service connection for the fracture of the right 5th metacarpal was granted due to evidence supporting an in-service injury and subsequent healing. The fracture of the right 4th metacarpal was not service-connected as it occurred after active duty.
- Claimed conditions
- fracture of the right 4th metacarpal, fracture of the right 5th metacarpal
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 12, 2009
- Citation
- 0909342
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,272 · Granted: 31% (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 0909342.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral recurrent tinnitus is granted. The Board finds that the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the current tinnitus arose in service, and resolves all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Veteran's right hand disability, characterized by a strain with mild peripheral neuropathy of the right 5th metacarpal, is not considered to warrant an increased rating beyond the current 10 percent assigned.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected residuals of a fracture of the right fifth metacarpal, finding that the evidence did not support a higher evaluation. The appeal was also denied on whether new and material evidence had been received to reopen a claim for degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for residuals of a right hand injury to include a fracture of the right 5th metacarpal, as there was no evidence that the current degenerative arthritic changes and degenerative joint disease were related to the in-service fracture.
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