The Board has denied service connection for a cervical spine disability and granted a TDIU rating due to the Veteran's service-connected diabetes mellitus type II, which precludes him from securing and following substantially gainful employment.
The deciding factor: Service connection cannot be established as there is no evidence of chronicity or underlying disease process in service. The current cervical spine disability is more likely related to general degenerative changes over time rather than an in-service injury.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical Spine Disability, Diabetes Mellitus Type II
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- December 23, 2019
- Citation
- 19195942
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,242 · Granted: 24% (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 19195942.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's cervical spine disability, right knee strain (painful motion), and right knee instability are now rated at 30 percent effective August 16, 2017.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for diabetes mellitus type II (DMII) as due to herbicide agent exposure, finding that he has not been diagnosed with DMII at any point during the period on appeal.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for TMD, cervical spine disability, and FSAD have been denied.,An earlier effective date prior to August 2, 2022, for the award of service connection for these conditions has also been denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's PTSD, diabetes mellitus type II, and various peripheral neuropathies have been granted increased ratings. Effective August 16, 2023, the Veteran is now eligible for a TDIU rating and DEA benefits.
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