The Board has denied service connection for high blood pressure, Barrett's Disease, esophageal varices with bands (to include as secondary to cirrhosis of the liver), bleeding ulcers, cirrhosis of the liver, hiatal hernia and Hepatitis C. The Board found no evidence linking these conditions to service.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not have any in-service treatment or complaints related to his claimed conditions, and there is no competent medical evidence linking his current conditions to service.
- Claimed conditions
- High blood pressure, Barrett's Disease, Esophageal varices with bands, Bleeding ulcers, Cirrhosis of the liver, Hiatal hernia, Hepatitis C
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19151295
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,156 · Granted: 29% (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 19151295.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for high blood pressure and a low back disability, finding that the evidence does not support a link between these conditions and active military service.
- Denied
The Board denied a compensable initial rating for Hepatitis C, finding that the Veteran's condition was asymptomatic and did not meet the criteria for any higher rating.
- Denied
The Board denied a compensable rating for the Veteran's GERD with hiatal hernia and dysphagia, finding that there was no documented history of esophageal stricture requiring daily medications to control dysphagia.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's Hepatitis C with cirrhosis is related to service, and therefore grants service connection for these conditions.
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