The Veteran's gallstones and bowel disability are not service-connected, as they are considered to be secondary to his service-connected hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver. The Board denied these claims.
The deciding factor: VA medical evaluations found no evidence of chronic gastrointestinal conditions or a direct link between the service-connected disabilities and the Veteran's current symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- Gallstones, Bowel Disability (manifested by constipation)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 29, 2015
- Citation
- 1554147
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 1554147.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for an acquired psychiatric disorder, hematemesis, hyperekplexia (hyperlexia), bleeding esophagus, erectile dysfunction, gallstones, hepatomegaly and hepatic steatosis, pancreatitis, and sleep apnea due to inadequate VA medical opinions. The Veteran's mental health issues are related to service, but the claims for these conditions will be remanded for a new VA examination.
- Granted
The Veteran's upper gastrointestinal disorder, diagnosed as hypertensive gastropathy, is granted secondary to residuals of service-connected infectious hepatitis (B). The issues of gallstones and hepatitis C are remanded for further development.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for insomnia, fatigue, gallstones, varicose veins, anemia, colitis, and PTSD due to a lack of evidence supporting the claims.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for acid reflux / GERD, colonic diverticulitis, gallstones, diastasis of muscle, BPH, OSA, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and thyroid disease disorder (also claimed as autoimmune thyroid disease disorder), all as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected diabetes mellitus, type 2.
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