The Board has denied service connection for residuals of pneumonia and hepatitis C, finding that the Veteran's current diagnoses are not related to his military service. Service connection for bilateral wrist carpal tunnel syndrome is not addressed in this decision.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no evidence of air gun inoculations during service and stated that transmission via air gun injectors is biologically plausible but not conclusively proven, with the Veteran's cocaine use being a more likely route of hepatitis C infection.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of pneumonia, hepatitis C, bilateral wrist carpal tunnel syndrome
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 3, 2014
- Citation
- 1439192
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 1439192.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for COPD, PTSD, hepatitis C, TDIU, and temporary total disability evaluation due to a failure to address his timely request for higher-level review of the July 2018 rating decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for diabetes, gum disease, hypertension, orthopedic foot disorder, left shoulder disorder, right shoulder disorder, hepatitis C, skin disorder of the feet (claimed as trench foot), and an acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as depression and anxiety) due to errors in duty to assist.
- Granted
The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is not service-connected as there is no evidence of a current disability.,The Veteran's residuals of pneumonia are service-connected due to his military service and the presence of lung scarring from previous pneumonia episodes.,The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, is service-connected based on in-service stressors.
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