The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a gastrointestinal disability, including celiac disease. The evidence does not support a finding that her current condition is related to her active service or any medication taken in conjunction with her service-connected TBI.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions provided by VA examiners found no direct link between the Veteran's current gastrointestinal disability and her active service, nor did they find it was caused or aggravated by her service-connected TBI. The Board considered these opinions to be more probative than the Veteran's lay assertions regarding the etiology of her condition.
- Claimed conditions
- Gastrointestinal disability, Celiac disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 29, 2020
- Citation
- 20070172
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 the veteran's claims for service connection and increased ratings, as well as entitlement to a TDIU prior to September 17, 2014.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, denied increased ratings for the right foot stress fracture and scars, restored a 40% rating for lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis, and denied earlier effective dates for TDIU and DEA. The Board remanded claims for service connection for a gastrointestinal disability and increased evaluations for the low back and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various disabilities, including an acquired psychiatric disability, rectal bleeding, erectile dysfunction, a gastrointestinal disability, and headache disability. The denial was based on the lack of probative evidence supporting a current disability or a link to active military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder is granted with a 50% disability rating, effective June 4, 2014. The appeal for an earlier effective date for celiac disease and the request for a higher initial rating for his psychiatric disorder are denied.
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