The Veteran's hepatitis C and low back disability are both granted, with the low back disability receiving a 10 percent rating effective April 9, 2007.
The deciding factor: Service connection is established for hepatitis C as it had its onset in service. The low back disability was also found to be incurred during service due to self-medication of pain from the Veteran's service-connected condition.
- Claimed conditions
- Hepatitis C, Degenerative Joint Disease, Lumbar Spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- April 19, 2012
- Citation
- 1214243
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 1214243.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied a compensable initial rating for Hepatitis C, finding that the Veteran's condition was asymptomatic and did not meet the criteria for any higher rating.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's Hepatitis C with cirrhosis is related to service, and therefore grants service connection for these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased disability rating for his degenerative joint disease, lumbar spine is remanded due to the inadequacy of the August 2020 VA examination report and the need for current range of motion testing that disregards the ameliorative effects of his medications.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's depressive disorder is granted as service-connected, with the Board finding it related to his active duty service and aggravated by his service-connected tibia fractures. The claim for hepatitis C is remanded due to inadequate medical opinions regarding its etiology.,Service connection for depressive disorder is established based on direct evidence of a current disability (depressive disorder) that was incurred during active duty service.
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