The Veteran's appeal for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for a broken screw in the neck due to cervical spinal surgery, service connection for residuals from surgery for implant of neurostimulator installed for chronic pain following cervical spine surgeries, and service connection for right iliac crest bone graft associated with cervical spine surgery has been dismissed.,The Veteran's appeal for service connection for migraine headaches as secondary to service-connected disabilities including sinusitis has been granted. The rating for UTI (cystitis) is partially granted from October 29, 2018.
The deciding factor: The Board lacks jurisdiction over the dismissed issues due to the Veteran not filing a valid appeal form.
- Claimed conditions
- Broken screw in the neck due to cervical spinal surgery, Residuals from surgery for implant of neurostimulator installed for chronic pain following cervical spine surgeries, Right iliac crest bone graft associated with cervical spine surgery, Migraines, Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- October 8, 2020
- Citation
- A20015394
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,772 · Granted: 37% (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 A20015394.
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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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.
- Granted
The Veteran's initial evaluation for tension headaches to include migraines is granted, with a rating of 50 percent effective from May 23, 2023.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for a compensable disability rating for tension and migraine headaches is remanded due to the inadequacy of the September 2020 VA examination report, which did not consider the ameliorative effects of medication.
- Denied
The Veteran's appeal for a higher rating for his migraine headaches was denied as the evidence did not show that his migraines were productive of severe economic inadaptability.
- Denied
The Veteran's PTSD with TBI is rated at 70 percent, which is denied as the criteria for a higher rating are not met.
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