The Board has denied service connection for various conditions, including right and left foot disabilities, diabetes mellitus, peripheral neuropathy of the upper and lower extremities, sleep apnea, heart disability, and cervical spine disability. The appeals are denied.,Service connection was not granted for any of these conditions as there is no evidence showing they were incurred or aggravated by service.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not have a current diagnosis of the claimed disabilities at the time of his claims, and there is insufficient medical evidence to support a finding that any disability may be related to service. The Board also found that the Veteran's alleged stressors were sufficient to meet the second prong of McLendon v. Nicholson (2006), but the third prong was not met as there was no indication that the claimed disabilities were caused or aggravated by service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Foot Disability, Left Foot Disability, Diabetes Mellitus, Peripheral Neuropathy of the Right Upper Extremity, to include as secondary to Diabetes Mellitus, Peripheral Neuropathy of the Left Upper Extremity, to include as secondary to Diabetes Mellitus, Peripheral Neuropathy of the Right Lower Extremity, to include as secondary to Diabetes Mellitus, Peripheral Neuropathy of the Left Lower Extremity, to include as secondary to Diabetes Mellitus, Sleep Apnea, Heart Disability, Cervical Spine Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 9, 2020
- Citation
- 20065922
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including GAD, MDD, PTSD, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and foot disabilities. The claim for NSC pension benefits was dismissed as moot due to a higher disability rating.
- Denied
The Board denied increased ratings for diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and a psychiatric disability due to insufficient evidence of the severity required for higher ratings.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an increased initial evaluation of 70 percent for PTSD but denied evaluations in excess of 10% for tension headaches and in excess of 30% for IBS, and denied service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome. The claims for additional service connections were remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for GERD, OSA, a cervical spine disability, and a thyroid disability to obtain an adequate medical opinion.
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