The Board has granted service connection for a right shoulder disability and a lumbar spine disability, but denied service connection for left shoulder and right knee disabilities.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's current right shoulder and lumbar spine disabilities are related to his active service. The Board found that the Veteran did not have a chronic or acute right knee disability until after separation from service, thus denying service connection for this condition.
- Claimed conditions
- right shoulder, lumbar spine, left shoulder, right knee
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 28, 2019
- Citation
- 19140491
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,350 · Granted: 26% (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 19140491.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted an effective date of December 10, 2015 for total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) and basic eligibility to Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA). The decision also grants earlier effective dates for these benefits.
- Granted
The Veteran's left ankle disability is granted service connection, and he receives a 10% rating for his right and left knee disabilities based on limitation of motion. Separate 20% ratings are assigned for instability in both knees.
- Granted
Service connection for left and right knee disabilities is granted.,An earlier effective date of April 29, 2010, but no earlier, for service connection for a back disability (lumbosacral and thoracic strain) is granted.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's attempts to appeal the January 14, 2020 rating decision were not timely filed and dismissed.
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