The Veteran's claims for service connection for residual facial scars from a shrapnel wound and tuberculosis were granted with effective dates of November 29, 2015. The Veteran's claims for service connection for post-surgical inguinal hernia residuals, an anterior trunk scar, PTSD, TBI, and tension headaches were granted with effective dates of February 1, 2016.,The Veteran was awarded retroactive compensation starting from December 1, 2015, for the 20% disability evaluation, and March 1, 2016, for the 50% disability evaluation.
The deciding factor: The effective dates of service connection were not earlier than November 29, 2015 for residual facial scars from a shrapnel wound and tuberculosis, and February 1, 2016 for post-surgical inguinal hernia residuals, an anterior trunk scar, PTSD, TBI, and tension headaches.
- Claimed conditions
- residual facial scars from a shrapnel wound, Tuberculosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- December 4, 2020
- Citation
- A20017958
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 A20017958.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
New evidence has been received to reopen the claim of service connection for tuberculosis, and it is granted. However, there is no current diagnosis of tuberculosis.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability and tuberculosis, granted service connection for right ear hearing loss, and granted an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for pulmonary fibrosis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board denied the claims for an earlier effective date, a higher disability rating for PTSD, and entitlement to specially adapted housing or special home adaptation. The claim of service connection for tuberculosis was remanded.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for tuberculosis and a rating in excess of 10 percent for GERD have been denied. The Board found no current diagnosis of tuberculosis, and the Veteran's symptoms do not meet the criteria for a higher disability rating for GERD.
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