The Veteran's right shoulder and right knee disabilities are granted service connection. Service connection for hypertension is denied, and the issue of secondary service connection for a right elbow disability due to his right shoulder disability is remanded. The issue of service connection for residuals of an anthrax vaccine is also remanded.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's current diagnoses of right shoulder impingement syndrome, rotator cuff tear, and degenerative joint disease are causally related to injuries sustained during active service in August 2004 and November 2004. The Veteran's right knee disability is also linked to injuries sustained during active service in 1989 and 1998. Service connection for hypertension was denied as there is no current diagnosis of the condition, and a VA examination is needed to determine if residuals from an anthrax vaccine are related to his symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Shoulder Disability, Right Knee Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19149791
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,874 · Granted: 33% (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 19149791.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected knee disabilities are rated at 10% each, and the Board finds that higher ratings are not warranted based on the evidence of record.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral knee disabilities are not related to his active service, and thus denied both claims for service connection.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of a right knee disability, finding that there is no evidence to support an etiological relationship between his current condition and his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The claims for service connection for right and left shoulder disabilities are remanded. The claim for sleep disorder (claimed as sleep apnea) remains denied.
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