The Board denied the claim for compensation benefits, pursuant to the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A. § 1151, as there was no evidence that VA's carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill, error in judgment or fault proximately caused additional disability.
The deciding factor: The only competent opinion addressing whether the March 1999 lumbar fusion and subsequent treatment at a VA medical facility resulted in additional disability due to VA's fault weighed against the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- staphylococcus (staph) infection and residuals, muscle atrophy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- March 27, 2009
- Citation
- 0911381
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,196 · Granted: 17% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0911381.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal regarding a rating for muscle atrophy due to thoracic outlet syndrome and related conditions has been dismissed as the appellant requested withdrawal of the appeal.
- Whole decision: Dismissed
The appeals concerning the issues of entitlement to service connection for various conditions and a higher level of special monthly compensation (SMC) for aid and attendance are dismissed due to the Veteran's death during the pendency of the appeal.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for muscle atrophy as there is no evidence of a current disability.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a muscle disorder, including muscle atrophy of groups I-IV, as there is no evidence of such a condition and it was not caused or aggravated by his service-connected right shoulder osteoarthritis.
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