The Board denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for scleroderma, finding that there was no evidence linking his current condition to his active service. The medical opinions provided did not establish a causal relationship between his exposure at Camp Lejeune and his scleroderma.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the evidence does not support a finding that the Veteran's current scleroderma is related to his active service, including his exposure at Camp Lejeune.
- Claimed conditions
- Scleroderma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- May 24, 2019
- Citation
- 19140451
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 940 · Granted: 21% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19140451.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's death was caused by acute/chronic respiratory failure secondary to scleroderma, a condition not service-connected. The Board denied service connection for the cause of death due to lack of evidence linking the disability to military service.
- Whole decision: Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for Parkinson's disease, to include as secondary to herbicide exposure. The claim for scleroderma was remanded.
- Whole decision: Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for hypertension, renal cyst, renal toxicity, and coronary artery disease (CAD) as secondary to the service-connected conditions. Scleroderma was denied.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's disability rating for scleroderma with polyarthralgia and Raynaud's phenomenon was reduced from 60% to 40%, but the Board has restored the original 60% rating due to severe exacerbations.
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