The Board has determined that the Veteran's right hand injury was a result of willful misconduct, and therefore denied service connection for residuals of an injury to his hand.
The deciding factor: The evidence supports a finding that the right hand injury was caused by the Veteran's willful misconduct during military service.
- Claimed conditions
- Hand injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- October 29, 2020
- Citation
- 20070387
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,762 · Granted: 24% (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 20070387.
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: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for medical reimbursement of non-VA medical care received on December 5, 2017, as there was no prior authorization from VA and the treatment did not meet the criteria for emergency treatment.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a lack of VA authorizations for treatment received on June 15, 2017. The Veteran's claim will be reconsidered with these additional records.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for GERD, back injuries, hand injuries and foot injuries have been denied as there is no evidence of a current disability related to the in-service incidents.
- Whole decision: Denied
The veteran does not meet the basic eligibility requirements for nonservice-connected pension benefits as he did not serve 90 days or more of active duty during a period of war, and was discharged due to receiving disability compensation rather than a service-connected disability.
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