The Board has determined that the Veteran's current foot disabilities are not related to his service, and thus denied his claim for service connection for residuals of cold injuries to the feet. The low back and hip disorders are found to be secondary to the Veteran's PTSD.
The deciding factor: Service connection cannot be established as there is no evidence showing a direct link between the current foot disabilities and service, nor can it be presumed due to the long post-service period without any complaints or diagnoses related to arthritis. The low back disorder is considered aggravated by his service-connected PTSD.
- Claimed conditions
- Residuals of cold injuries to the feet, Low back disorder, Bilateral hip disorders
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 26, 2017
- Citation
- 1702265
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 1702265.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a low back disorder was reopened, and his claims for increased ratings of bilateral knee instability were granted. His hearing loss claim was denied.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a low back disorder. The claims for bilateral hearing loss, hypertension, bilateral knee disorder, and an acquired psychiatric disorder are remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a low back disorder, finding that the evidence did not show an in-service onset or relationship to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for low back disorder and bilateral knee disorders due to duty to assist errors prior to the rating decision on appeal. The Veteran is not prejudiced as a remand is necessary to correct these errors.
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