The Board denied service connection for hepatitis B as there is no current diagnosis of the condition and the Veteran's positive hepatitis B antibodies were likely acquired in Korea during service, not due to a disease or injury incurred in service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran's positive hepatitis B antibodies were likely acquired during service in Korea, rather than being caused by a disease or injury incurred in service.
- Claimed conditions
- Hepatitis B
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 1, 2019
- Citation
- 19159667
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,200 · Granted: 43% (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 19159667.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection were denied, and the reduction of his hepatitis B rating from 20% to 0% was upheld. Service connection was not established for diabetes, left knee arthritis, hypertension, or obstructive sleep apnea. Bilateral hearing loss was granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's asthma and hepatitis B claims are remanded for further evaluation. The TDIU claim is also remanded due to its inextricability with the other claims.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for hepatitis B from January 4, 1977, to June 18, 2009 is being remanded due to the need for a retrospective addendum opinion.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for Hepatitis B, finding insufficient evidence of a diagnosis and thus no additional disability.
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