The Board denied service connection for residuals of an inguinal hernia, residuals of a ventral hernia, and gallbladder removal. However, it granted service connection for bilateral hand fingernail clubbing as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected respiratory disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner opined that the Veteran’s bilateral fingernail clubbing was less likely than not due solely to his service-connected asbestosis and more likely related to his lung disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hand fingernail clubbing, Colon resection, Gallbladder removal, Residuals of a ventral hernia, Residuals of an inguinal hernia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 14, 2019
- Citation
- 19111665
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,810 · Granted: 23% (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 19111665.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal is remanded to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors by the AOJ.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial evaluation of 70 percent for PTSD with adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depression, but denied higher ratings for the residuals of a stab wound to the stomach and service connection for gallbladder removal and overactive bladder as secondary to the stab wound. The degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine was remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of the Veteran's thoracolumbar spine disability, Barrett's Esophagus, and colon resection. The claims are also being remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for a 30 percent disability rating for gallbladder removal is denied as there was no formal or informal application between the June 1995 final decision and December 9, 2016.
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