The Veteran's left eye blindness is not service-connected as it was caused by age-related macular degeneration, which the VA examiner concluded was not a result of carelessness or negligence on the part of VA.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran's worsening vision in his left eye after surgery was due to age-related macular degeneration and not related to the February 2010 cataract extraction surgery.
- Claimed conditions
- left eye blindness, age-related macular degeneration
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19116529
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 19116529.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's left eye injury, claimed as blindness, finding that it had its onset in service and is related to his military service.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted special monthly compensation based on the need for regular aid and attendance due to his service-connected diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's appeal of VA withholding his disability compensation benefits to offset a $600,000 tort settlement. The decision found that the withholding was proper under law.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a duty to assist error, specifically the lack of a medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's eye disabilities are related to service. The AOJ is required to obtain a VA opinion on this issue.
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