The Veteran's bilateral hammer toes with tyloma (callus) formation is attributable to his active service. The Board finds that an opinion that a condition is not related to service for no other reason than because the condition was not diagnosed in service is contrary to governing evidentiary standards. Therefore, the Board finds that the February 2016 VA medical opinion has less probative weight.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's bilateral hammer toes with tyloma (callus) formation are attributable to his active service due to wearing boots that were too small during boot camp.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hammer toes with tyloma (callus) formation, Back condition, Bilateral hip condition, Bilateral knee condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 24, 2019
- Citation
- 19132240
Veterans Law Judge
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 19132240.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claim for service connection of his back condition due to inadequate medical opinion and failure to consider all relevant evidence.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claim for service connection of his back condition due to inadequate medical opinion and failure to consider all relevant evidence.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's back condition is related to his service-connected left knee replacement residuals and grants service connection for this secondary condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's back condition is granted service connection. The claim for a condition manifested by disequilibrium and dizziness is remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
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