The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral arthritis of the feet, hands, and low back disability (claimed as back arthritis) due to lack of evidence showing a link between these conditions and his military service.
The deciding factor: The most probative evidence does not show that it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's diagnosed conditions onset during or within one year of service, or are otherwise etiologically related to active duty service.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral arthritis of the feet, bilateral arthritis of the hands, low back disability (claimed as back arthritis)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19123882
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,890 · Granted: 32% (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 19123882.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for bilateral arthritis of the hands, fibromyalgia, and coronary artery disease due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Dismissed
The appeal of the proposed action to sever service connection for tinnitus was dismissed, and entitlement to service connection for bilateral arthritis of the hands was denied.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeals of the Veteran's claims for service connection due to his death.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral arthritis of the feet and hammertoes, finding that there was no evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
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