The Veteran's vocal cord paralysis is denied as it was not caused by VA carelessness, negligence or error.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the surgery performed by VA personnel met the standard of care and that the resulting disability (vocal cord paralysis) was a foreseeable result of the procedures.
- Claimed conditions
- vocal cord paralysis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19151264
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,249 · Granted: 37% (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 19151264.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for adult-onset Still's disease, vocal cord paralysis, scars, anterior neck, left knee arthritis, and right knee arthritis due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The Veteran is presumed to have had these conditions during his military service.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a compensable rating for papillary thyroid carcinoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, but granted service connection for vocal cord paralysis and odynophagia as additional residual disabilities due to the service-connected nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal is remanded to obtain the original signed consent document for a neck surgery in March 2022. The veteran claims VA negligence caused vocal cord paralysis and dysphonia.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for vocal cord paralysis status post thyroidectomy has been dismissed due to her death.
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