The Veteran's request to reopen claims for chronic headaches and arthritis, bilateral hands was denied as the new evidence did not relate to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate these claims.,The Veteran's requests to reopen claims for hepatitis C, bilateral vision issues, sleep apnea, erectile dysfunction, and prostate cancer were also denied due to lack of material evidence addressing the service connection elements of in-service incurrence or nexus.
The deciding factor: The new evidence did not address whether the Veteran’s preexisting conditions were aggravated by military service for chronic headaches and arthritis, bilateral hands.,The new evidence did not relate to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate the claims of hepatitis C, bilateral vision issues, sleep apnea, erectile dysfunction, or prostate cancer.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic headaches, arthritis, bilateral hands (claimed as rheumatoid arthritis), hepatitis C, bilateral vision issues, sleep apnea, erectile dysfunction, prostate cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 9, 2020
- Citation
- 20001818
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,092 · Granted: 42% (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 20001818.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has expanded the scope of the claim for major depression to encompass any mental health disability raised by the record and has remanded six issues for additional development.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea, finding that there was no evidence of a chronic disease manifesting within one year after service and concluding that the current disability is not related to his in-service deviated septum.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for additional development regarding the Veteran's claim of service connection for sleep apnea. The Veteran will be provided with a VA examination to determine if his current sleep disorder is related to his military service.
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