The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have a right hand disability or residual disability from pneumonia, including COPD, that is attributable to his active military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations and medical records do not support a finding of chronic disabilities related to the Veteran's in-service injuries or exposure. The August 2009 VA examiner opined that any right hand disability is due to the aging process and COPD is secondary to tobacco use.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Hand Disability, Pneumonia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 23, 2009
- Citation
- 0948409
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 0948409.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for a higher rating for PTSD and dismissed his appeals regarding increased ratings for tinnitus and a right hand disability due to lack of timely filing of Notice of Disagreement.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the current evidence is insufficient to establish service connection for the Veteran's claimed disabilities, and thus remands the claims for further development.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that none of the listed causes were related to his military service and no service-connected disability contributed to his death.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for cause of death, finding that his service-connected conditions did not contribute to his death. The evidence showed well-controlled heart symptoms prior to death and no causal relationship between anxiety and cardiopulmonary disease or renal failure.
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