The Veteran's heart murmur claim is denied as there is no objective evidence of a current diagnosis.,The Veteran's bilateral knee condition and poor circulation claims are denied due to lack of medical evidence linking these conditions to service or any other relevant factor.,Service connection for degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine is granted, with secondary service connection already in effect for cervical radiculopathy of the left side.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's heart murmur claim fails because there is no objective evidence supporting a current diagnosis of this condition.,There is insufficient medical evidence to link the Veteran’s bilateral knee and poor circulation conditions to service or any other relevant factor.,Service connection for degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine is granted as the Veteran has continuous symptoms since service, which supports a grant based on continuity of symptomatology.
- Claimed conditions
- Heart murmur, Bilateral knee condition, Poor circulation, Degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine, Cervical radiculopathy of the left side
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20073132
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,960 · Granted: 36% (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 20073132.
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 claim for increased ratings for degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine and lumbar spine was granted with effective dates of May 13, 2019.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claim for service connection of a cardiac disability due to insufficient evidence and need for clarification on whether the heart murmur is a congenital defect or disease, as well as potential exposure during active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar and cervical spine are being remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The AOJ is directed to obtain an addendum medical opinion that addresses the extent of flareups experienced by the Veteran.
- Remanded (sent back)
Service connection for degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine and anxiety is granted. The Veteran's right lower extremity radiculopathy, right knee condition, and OSA are remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
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