The Board has granted a 40% rating for the appellant's residuals of a right buttock shell fragment wound with retained foreign body, finding that his complaints and tests demonstrate impairment. The claim for service connection for alcohol abuse is denied as there is no current diagnosis of an alcohol abuse disorder under DSM-5 criteria. The claim for service connection for erectile dysfunction is granted.
The deciding factor: The appellant's residuals of a right buttock shell fragment wound with retained foreign body have been found to meet the criteria for a 40% rating based on his consistent complaints and tests indicating impairment, while the claims for alcohol abuse and erectile dysfunction were denied due to lack of current diagnoses under DSM-5 criteria.
- Claimed conditions
- alcohol abuse, erectile dysfunction, residuals of a right buttock shell fragment wound
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- November 17, 2020
- Citation
- 20073671
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,810 · Granted: 23% (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 20073671.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
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