The Board denied service connection for left elbow, right ankle, and left knee disorders as well as an increased rating for migraine headaches. Service connection was not granted due to the lack of evidence linking these conditions to military service.
The deciding factor: There is no competent evidence showing a causal relationship between the Veteran's claimed conditions and any incident of service. The current record does not support a conclusion that the Veteran has current chronic disabilities of the left knee, right ankle, or left elbow, nor does it contain a medical opinion linking his current disabilities to military service.
- Claimed conditions
- left elbow disorder, residuals of a splenectomy, left knee disorder, right ankle disorder, migraine headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 13, 2009
- Citation
- 0909501
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 Veteran's migraine headaches were granted a 50 percent disability rating, effective August 8, 2023, due to very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks that are productive of severe economic inadaptability.
- Granted
The Board granted a 50 percent rating for the Veteran's migraine headaches based on prostrating attacks occurring more than once a month and severe economic inadaptability.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for migraine headaches as proximately due to the Veteran's service-connected tinnitus.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 30 percent rating for the Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches, but no greater.
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