The Veteran's claims for service connection for low back disability, heart disease, hiatal hernia, and memory loss are all denied. The Board found that the evidence does not support a finding of in-service injury or exposure to environmental contaminants in Southwest Asia, nor does it establish continuity of symptomatology since service.
The deciding factor: The medical records do not provide clear evidence of an in-service injury or exposure to environmental contaminants in Southwest Asia, and there is no established continuity of symptoms post-service.
- Claimed conditions
- low back disability with radiculopathy in the left lower extremity, heart disease, hiatal hernia, memory loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19102830
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,642 · Granted: 19% (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 19102830.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for heart disease, hypertension, kidney disease, and low back pain due to potential errors in duty to assist. The AOJ is required to verify the Veteran's alleged exposure to herbicide agents and obtain private treatment records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to inadequate development of her exposure history and lack of adequate medical opinions. The case will be returned to the AOJ for further action.
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