The Board denied service connection for cone dystrophy, finding that the condition was not aggravated by military service and giving more weight to the opinion of a VA clinician.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's cone dystrophy is considered a disease process with hereditary origins that did not manifest until after service, thus it cannot be clearly and unmistakably aggravated by service.
- Claimed conditions
- cone dystrophy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 14, 2019
- Citation
- 19137441
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,797 · Granted: 20% (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 19137441.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claim for service connection for cone dystrophy due to conflicting opinions from VA examiners regarding its etiology and whether it is related to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claim of service connection for cone dystrophy due to a lack of substantial compliance with previous remand directives. A new VA medical opinion is needed to determine if the Veteran's cone dystrophy had its onset in or is otherwise related to active duty service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to errors in obtaining and considering certain records, including Reserve service records. The Veteran's cone dystrophy is being reviewed again with a focus on periods of active duty service and reserve service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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