The Board has denied the Veteran's service connection claims for COPD and a right shoulder disability. The hypertension claim is remanded due to a duty to assist error.,Service connection for COPD, lung fungus, was denied as there was insufficient evidence of a nexus between current diagnosis and in-service pneumonia.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's current diagnoses were not related to his service. Specifically, the VA examiner opined that the Veteran’s COPD was more likely due to industrial bronchitis from working as a miner post-separation.,There is no evidence of a right shoulder disability during or after service and the Veteran did not provide any lay statements describing its onset.
- Claimed conditions
- COPD, right shoulder disability, hypertension
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 26, 2019
- Citation
- A19003826
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,762 · Granted: 24% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 A19003826.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Veteran's right shoulder disability and migraines/chronic headaches are remanded for additional development due to insufficient opinions on the etiology of her conditions.
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The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations.
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The Board has remanded the claims for additional development due to conflicting opinions regarding service connection for peripheral neuropathy, hypertension, and skin disabilities related to herbicide exposure.
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