The Board has reopened the Veteran's previously denied claim for service connection of a left shoulder disability and granted service connection based on direct evidence linking the current condition to an in-service injury.
The deciding factor: The medical opinion provided by Dr. R.B. established that the current left shoulder condition is related to the work-related injury sustained during active duty, which contributed significantly to the Veteran's current condition.
- Claimed conditions
- left shoulder impingement syndrome, degenerative joint disease (DJD), arthroscopic rotator cuff repair
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20066229
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,828 · Granted: 32% (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 20066229.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection are being remanded due to a duty to assist error. The VA will obtain new opinions from different VA examiners to address whether the Veteran's conditions were incurred or aggravated by his military service, including exposure during combat.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for SMC based on loss of use of the left upper extremity is remanded due to inadequate examination and opinion regarding her service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for left shoulder impingement syndrome as there was no evidence of an in-service injury or event that could be linked to his current condition.
- Dismissed
The appeal of the deferred claim for entitlement to service connection for sinusitis is dismissed. The claims for right hip greater trochanteric, left shoulder impingement syndrome, and thoracolumbar spine strain are remanded.
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