The Board denied compensation for a bilateral elbow disability under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 because the evidence did not show that VA care caused the Veteran's disabilities, and the opinions provided by VA examiners were more persuasive than the lay opinion of the Veteran.
The deciding factor: VA examiners found no actual causation between the Veteran's bilateral elbow disability and VA treatment, including the prescription of statin medication. The Veteran's disabilities are due to chronic wear and tear rather than negligence on VA's part.
- Claimed conditions
- epicondylitis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- October 29, 2020
- Citation
- 20070142
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,455 · Granted: 23% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 20070142.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for bilateral elbow and wrist disabilities due to incomplete development of records, including private treatment and workers compensation records. The Veteran will be provided another opportunity to submit or authorize VA to obtain relevant private treatment records.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient evidence regarding when the Veteran's ulnar neuropathy resolved and whether his reported flare-ups could be attributed to service-connected or nonservice-connected conditions.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's right elbow condition, finding that it is not secondary to his service-connected residuals of fracture of right ring finger and is unrelated to any in-service injury or disease.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection and rating of his neurological disorders, bilateral dry eye syndrome, and carpal tunnel syndrome. The issues are related to in-service boxing, rigors of in-service job duties, and January to May 1991 pertinent elbow treatment.
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