The claim for service connection of back disability is granted. The claims for increased ratings for left knee and reactive airway disease are remanded.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence supports a finding that the Veteran's current DJD of the thoracic and lumbar spine is related to his active duty service, including physical duties during service.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) of the thoracic and lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 9, 2020
- Citation
- 20072116
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,196 · Granted: 17% (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 20072116.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's back disability (DJD of the thoracic and lumbar spine) and obstructive sleep apnea have been granted service connection. The back condition is presumed to be due to continuous symptoms since service, while the sleep apnea was first manifested during service.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's initial ratings for various service-connected conditions were granted or denied. The appeal is mixed, with some issues having their initial ratings granted and others not.
- Granted
The Veteran's thoracolumbar spine disability was rated at 20 percent since July 24, 2009. The Board found that the evidence supported a grant of TDIU benefits effective from October 3, 2013.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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