The Board has determined that the Veteran's cervical spine and right shoulder disorders are not causally or etiologically related to any disease, injury, or incident during service, and arthritis did not manifest to a compensable degree within one year of separation from active duty. Therefore, service connection for such disorders is denied.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners concluded that the Veteran's current cervical spine and right shoulder disorders are less likely than not caused by his military service due to lack of evidence of chronic neck or shoulder complaints during service and post-service treatment records first mentioning arthritis in the late 2000s, which is common with age.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical spine disorder, Right shoulder disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 21, 2019
- Citation
- 19188105
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 19188105.
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 increased rating for allergic rhinitis and remanded the claims for cervical spine, hip, thigh, and hip extension disorders for further development.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, hypertension, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and a right shoulder disorder as there was no probative evidence of current disabilities as defined by VA.
- Partly granted
The appeal was denied for service connection of a cervical spine disorder, and several claims were remanded for further development.
- Partly granted
The Board denied an initial rating higher than 10 percent for residual scars from basal cell carcinoma and remanded the claim for service connection for a cervical spine disorder.
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