The Board denied service connection for joint pains and bilateral hearing loss, finding no evidence of a qualifying chronic disability or undiagnosed illness that existed for at least 6 months.
The deciding factor: There was no objective evidence to support the claim of a current joint disability, and the medical records did not demonstrate any post-service complaints related to shoulder or hip problems. The Veteran's gout began around March 2008, more than 14 years after separation from service.
- Claimed conditions
- Joint pains, Gout in left great toe
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 30, 2019
- Citation
- 19133558
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · 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 19133558.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for nonservice-connected pension and special monthly pension due to duty-to-assist errors, including obtaining SSA records and scheduling a VA examination.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's GERD to include gastric ulcer is granted a 20 percent rating, while other claims for service connection and an initial compensable rating for sinusitis are denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's restrictive lung disease is granted as service connected due to exposure to burn pits during his Gulf War service. The issues of joint pains, arthritis, muscle pain, hypertension, and right knee strain are remanded for further review.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claim for PTSD is granted, and the claim for joint pains is denied.
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