The Board has dismissed the appeals for service connection of left knee, right knee, left hand, right hand, and right elbow arthritis as they are not eligible to be decided due to the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: Due to the death of the Veteran, his appeal was terminated.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee arthritis, right knee arthritis, left hand arthritis, right hand arthritis, right elbow arthritis
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 3, 2020
- Citation
- 20000356
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 170 · Granted: 18% (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 20000356.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew her appeal regarding the service connection for left and right knee arthritis, thus the appeal is dismissed.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection for right hand arthritis and left hand arthritis have been dismissed.,The Veteran's appeals for a higher rating for lumbar strain, radiculopathy of the left sciatic nerve, and radiculopathy of the right sciatic nerve have been remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for right hand arthritis but has remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for nocturia due to duty-to-assist errors.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that new and relevant evidence sufficient to readjudicate the previously denied claim for service connection for a right knee disability has been received. The AOJ should now consider secondary service connection in addition to the original claims.
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