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
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.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board denied an initial compensable rating for hypertension and service connection for hearing loss, but granted service connection for hepatitis B, diabetes mellitus, type II, and diabetic peripheral neuropathy in both lower extremities.,The Board denied service connection for erectile dysfunction and sleep apnea.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for diabetes mellitus type II, hepatitis B, a liver condition (hepatic steatosis and cirrhosis) secondary to service-connected hepatitis B, hypertension, prostate cancer, voiding dysfunction as secondary to service-connected prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction as secondary to service-connected prostate cancer. The claim for anemia was remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for an extraschedular total disability evaluation based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities prior to April 30, 2020, as it needs additional medical evidence to differentiate between symptoms attributable to service-connected and non-service-connected conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection and rating appeals to cure pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors.
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