The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for arthritis of the right hand, as it was determined that there is no competent medical evidence showing the condition is a result of or proximately due to his service-connected residuals of a fracture to the right 5th metacarpal.
The deciding factor: There is no x-ray evidence of arthritis in the Veteran's right hand and the VA examiners noted no current diagnosis of arthritis. The claim was denied based on the lack of medical evidence supporting a connection between the service-connected condition and the claimed arthritis.
- Claimed conditions
- arthritis of the right hand
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 20, 2009
- Citation
- 0910569
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.
- Dismissed
The veteran withdrew all pending appeals, and the Board has no jurisdiction to review these issues.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including arthritis of the entire skeletal system (other than cervical spine, right shoulder, bilateral hands, and left foot), a left knee condition (other than arthritis), and other specific joints. The claims were not granted.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for right hand disability, claimed as arthritis, due to a lack of evidence showing a current disability during or approximate to the filing of the claim.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for arthritis of the right and left hands to schedule a VA examination.
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