The Board has granted service connection for right and left hand disabilities, diagnosed as arthritis, both of which had their onset during active duty.
The deciding factor: Service treatment records show the Veteran reported having a fracture in his left hand prior to service. The VA examiners concluded that these conditions are more likely secondary to age-related degeneration rather than being directly related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Hand Arthritis, Left Hand Arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 17, 2020
- Citation
- 20073458
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,217 · Granted: 46% (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 20073458.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied an increased rating for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and has found the Veteran's right hand arthritis claim to be remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The decision on the right hand arthritis claim will need to be reconsidered after obtaining necessary medical opinions.
- Partly granted
The appeal was dismissed for the claim of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, and service connection for migraine headaches was restored. Several claims for service connection were denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's PTSD, right knee arthritis, left knee arthritis, right hand arthritis, and left hand arthritis are all granted as service-connected.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection for right knee, left foot, and left hand disabilities are denied as the evidence does not support a current disability or link to his in-service fall.,The Veteran's claim for hypertension is remanded due to insufficient competent medical evidence to determine if it is proximately due to or aggravated by his service-connected PTSD.
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