The Board has granted the Veteran's claim to reopen his service connection for a left hand disability, and has established that his current disability is related to an in-service dog bite injury.
The deciding factor: The Board found new evidence (the opinion of the treating physician and the wife's observations) more probative than the April 2014 VA examiner's opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- left hand, left thumb, left flexor tendons, left profundus tendons
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 19, 2019
- Citation
- 19173399
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 19173399.
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 connection claims for left ankle, right ankle, right hand, and left hand conditions are denied.,The Veteran's service connection claim for right hip condition is denied.,The Veteran's service connection claim for left hip condition is denied.,The Veteran's service connection claim for left wrist condition is denied.,The Veteran's service connection claim for right wrist condition is denied.
- Dismissed
The Veteran requested to withdraw her appeal regarding the earlier effective date for service connection for rheumatoid arthritis affecting various fingers and wrists. The Board dismissed the appeals as per the Veteran's request.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal was dismissed because the Board Appeal request was not timely filed within one year of the rating decision, and good cause for an extension was not shown.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has withdrawn claims for service connection for joint pains and muscle pain. The remaining issues of service connection for right hand, left hand, left knee, seizures/tremors, immune disorder, and nerve damage are remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
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