The Veteran's claim for service connection for a bilateral ankle disability is denied as there is no evidence of any post-service left or right ankle disability. The Board finds that the current right ankle diagnosis does not constitute a chronic disability and thus cannot be presumed to have been incurred in service.,Service connection for a sleep disorder secondary to her already service-connected psychiatric disability (bipolar disorder with alcohol use disorder) is granted.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's claim for bilateral ankle disability was denied because there is no evidence of any post-service left or right ankle disability. The current right ankle diagnosis does not constitute a chronic disability and thus cannot be presumed to have been incurred in service.,Service connection for the sleep disorder secondary to her already service-connected psychiatric disability (bipolar disorder with alcohol use disorder) was granted because there is evidence of a post-service diagnosis and it is at least as likely as not related to her service-connected condition.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Ankle Disability, Sleep Disorder, Hypertension, Headaches, Bipolar Disorder with Alcohol Use Disorder (100% Rating), Tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 25, 2018
- Citation
- 18138037
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 18138037.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
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 denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's current conditions are not related to his military service.
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- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his current condition and active duty service or herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for a higher rating for PTSD and dismissed his appeals regarding increased ratings for tinnitus and a right hand disability due to lack of timely filing of Notice of Disagreement.
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