The Veteran's service connection claims for headaches, chest congestion and body aches, right ankle disability, left lower extremity radiculopathy (secondary to lumbar spine disability), right lower extremity radiculopathy (secondary to lumbar spine disability), and a 10% rating for right thumb/hand disability have been granted. The Veteran's claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, increased ratings for his lumbar spine disability, cervical spine disability, and related neurological impairments in the extremities, and TDIU are remanded.
The deciding factor: The appeal is dismissed as moot due to existing service connection for headaches. The Veteran's claims for other conditions lack sufficient evidence of a direct relationship to service or secondary to pre-existing conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Headaches, Chest Congestion and Body Aches, Right Ankle Disability, Left Lower Extremity Radiculopathy (Secondary to Lumbar Spine Disability), Right Lower Extremity Radiculopathy (Secondary to Lumbar Spine Disability), 10% Rating for Right Thumb/Hand Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19101769
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,084 · Granted: 20% (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 19101769.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
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 denied the Veteran's claims for initial compensable ratings for obstructive sleep apnea and headaches, finding that the evidence does not support a finding of persistent daytime hypersomnolence or other manifestations consistent with a compensable disability rating under the criteria established by Diagnostic Codes. The matter is remanded to obtain additional information from the Veteran regarding his headaches and their impact on his daily life.
- Granted
The Veteran's OSA is granted as secondary to PTSD, but his headaches are denied due to lack of service connection.
- Granted
The Veteran's headaches, which manifested as very frequent and prolonged attacks causing severe economic inadaptability, are granted a 50 percent disability rating for the entire period on appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran seeks an earlier effective date for a 30 percent disability rating for his service-connected headaches, which was awarded with a noncompensable rating at 0 percent. The Board is remanding the claim due to inadequate examination and the need for a new VA examination to evaluate the severity of the Veteran's headaches without considering the ameliorating effects of any medication.
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