The Veteran's petition to reopen his previously denied claims of entitlement to service connection for a left shoulder disorder and bilateral knee disorders has been granted. The issues of secondary service connection have also been remanded.,A VA examination is needed to determine the current severity of the Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including bilateral hallux rigidus (limitus), 1st MTP joints with degenerative changes, status post left hammertoe correction and 1st MTP joint fusion; residuals of a scar on the left foot, status post nerve removal; and scar of the right foot.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's claims for service connection have been reopened due to new evidence submitted since the last final denial. The issues of secondary service connection are remanded as further examination is needed to determine if there is a link between the disabilities and the service-connected cervical spine disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease of the Left Shoulder, Degenerative Joint Disease of the Cervical Spine
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 28, 2019
- Citation
- 19122974
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,038 · Granted: 30% (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 19122974.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine was found to not meet the criteria for a higher disability rating, as it did not result in forward flexion of 15 degrees or less and there was no evidence of favorable ankylosis of the entire cervical spine.
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The Board denied service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and chronic sinusitis. However, it granted an increased disability rating of 30 percent for left upper extremity radiculopathy.
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The Veteran's GERD was granted a 60 percent disability rating, and the June 15, 2020 VA Form 10182 for service connection claims was accepted as timely due to good cause shown.
- Granted
The Veteran's low back disability was restored to a 20 percent rating effective February 24, 2022. The other issues were denied.
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