The Veteran's bilateral leg disorder is not service-connected as secondary to his service-connected hypertension. The February 1985 rating decision for lumbar and cervical spine arthritis was upheld, with the VA finding that a single rating under Diagnostic Code 5003 was appropriate given x-ray evidence of involvement in two minor joint groups (lumbar and cervical spines). DIC benefits were denied.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's bilateral leg disorder is not shown to be related to his service-connected hypertension, as multiple VA examinations found no link between the medication used for hypertension and the dermatitis. The Board also determined that there was no CUE in the February 1985 rating decision regarding spinal arthritis.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral leg disorder, hypertension, bilateral stasis dermatitis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19149649
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,050 · Granted: 23% (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 19149649.
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