The Veteran's claims for service connection and initial ratings were denied. The Board found that hypertension was not shown to be causally or etiologically related to any disease, injury, or incident in service and did not manifest within one year of service discharge. GERD was not manifested by persistently recurrent epigastric distress with dysphagia, pyrosis, and regurgitation, accompanied by substernal or arm or shoulder pain, to any level of severity. For the entire appeal period (with the exception of a period of a temporary total rating as per 38 C.F.R. § 4.30), the Veteran's lumbar spine disability was manifested by functional impairment consisting of subjective complaints of pain and limitation of motion, without limitation of the thoracolumbar spine to less than 60 degrees or limitation of the combined range of motion of the thoracolumbar spine less than 120 degrees. The assignment of an initial 10 percent rating for right lower extremity radiculopathy as of June 21, 2011, but no earlier, and an initial noncompensable rating for left lower extremity radiculopathy as of March 27, 2012, were proper. The Veteran's claims for service connection and initial ratings for right shoulder arthritis were denied.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the evidence did not support a finding of direct service connection for hypertension or GERD, and that the current manifestations of lumbar spine disability, right lower extremity radiculopathy, and left lower extremity radiculopathy were not shown to be causally related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- Hypertension, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), Lumbar Spine Degenerative Disc Disease with Nerve Damage, Status Post L4 Laminectomy and L4-L5 Fusion
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 7, 2015
- Citation
- 1551228
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 1551228.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
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- Granted
The Board has restored the Veteran's 10% rating for hypertension effective December 1, 2025 and denied a rating in excess of 10%. The reduction from 10% to noncompensable was not proper.
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