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Denied

The Board denied compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for a low back condition, finding that the Veteran's additional disability was not caused by VA carelessness or negligence and that there was no evidence of failure to timely diagnose and treat an infection.

The deciding factor: The June 2017 VA medical opinion concluded that the Veteran did not have carelessness or negligence on the part of VA personnel, and that the delay in diagnosing the post-surgical infection did not constitute a fault by VA.

Claimed conditions
Low back condition
How they argued it
Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
March 8, 2019
Citation
19117307

Veterans Law Judge

J.W. FRANCIS

Decisions by this judge: 1,030 · Granted: 17% (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 19117307.

What this means for you

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