The appeal was denied because there is no evidence of a current left shoulder disability.
The deciding factor: No medical evidence supports the existence of a current left shoulder disability, and the Veteran's pain alone does not constitute a disability for which service connection may be granted.
- Claimed conditions
- left shoulder pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 25, 2009
- Citation
- 0911023
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,088 · Granted: 33% (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 0911023.
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 Board has granted the Veteran's requests to reopen previously denied service connection claims for various joint conditions, including right ankle arthritis, left ankle arthritis, right shoulder pain, left shoulder pain, right knee arthritis, and left knee arthritis. The skin condition claim is remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for skin cancer, facial scars, impairment of cranial nerve V and VII, left eye condition with watering and dryness, and left shoulder pain due to a duty-to-assist error in obtaining an adequate medical opinion regarding the relationship between these conditions and service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for left shoulder pain and a rating in excess of 10 percent for right knee strain, finding that there was no evidence to support a nexus between his current conditions and his military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection have been denied. The rating in excess of 10 percent for tinnitus is denied, as the evidence does not support a higher rating under the applicable criteria. The claim for a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss is also denied due to lack of evidence supporting a higher rating based on audiometric results. Service connection for hypertension and bilateral foot fungus are granted with effective dates from May 19, 2020, to August 9, 2022, respectively. The Veteran's claims for service connection regarding left knee pain (status post arthroscopy), right knee pain (status post arthroscopy), low back disability (degenerative arthritis of the spine), left shoulder pain, and right shoulder pain are all granted with effective dates from August 10, 2022. The Veteran's claims for service connection regarding left leg shooting pain and radiculopathy secondary to low back disability and right leg shooting pain and radiculopathy secondary to low back disability remain pending.
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