The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have a current neck disability or bilateral hand arthritis disability that is etiologically related to service. The preponderance of evidence is against the claims for service connection.
The deciding factor: Service treatment records do not document any chronic neck disability or bilateral hand arthritis, and there is no medical evidence linking these disabilities to military service.
- Claimed conditions
- Neck Pain, Bilateral Hand Arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 7, 2017
- Citation
- 1731744
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 1731744.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran requested to withdraw his appeal for the listed conditions, and the Board has dismissed the appeal as a result.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's claims for service connection related to degenerative joint disease, lumbar spine, lumbar canal stenosis; right knee condition; left knee condition; right shoulder condition; and neck pain are remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for irritable bowel syndrome and posttraumatic stress disorder, but granted an effective date of February 4, 2024, for a 70 percent evaluation for PTSD.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD with anxiety and TBI results in total occupational and social impairment, leading to a 100 percent disability rating for PTSD effective April 1, 2017.
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