The Board has determined that the Veteran's back disability is related to a pre-existing condition of minimal spina bifida occulta, and service connection for this condition is granted.
The deciding factor: Service connection was established based on continuity of symptomatology and in-service aggravations of the preexisting condition.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of a lumbar back strain, spina bifida, possible HNP
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 18, 2020
- Citation
- A20015662
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied an effective date prior to January 1, 2020 for the grant of benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1822 for a child born with spina bifida due to the specific statutory effective date set by The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019.
- Partly granted
The Board denied benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1815 for a child born with birth defects and remanded the claim for benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1805 for a child born with spina bifida.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case to determine whether the appellant's congenital neural tube defect caused or contributed to his January 1986 hypoxic brain injury event, and if not, to estimate the type and severity of symptoms he would currently exhibit due to spina bifida.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case to obtain the Veteran's complete service records and readjudicate the issues of entitlement to benefits for spina bifida and other covered birth defects.
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