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 test results support moderate impairment. The claim for service connection for alcohol abuse was denied due to lack of diagnosed alcohol abuse disorder, and the claim for erectile dysfunction remains pending.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not meet the criteria for an alcohol abuse disorder under DSM-5, and there is no causal relationship between PTSD and alcohol use as claimed by the appellant's attorney.
- 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
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 remands the claim for service connection for erectile dysfunction due to an inadequate VA opinion regarding its etiology.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including sinusitis, elbows condition, cervical condition, erectile dysfunction, kidney condition, sleep apnea, wrists condition, asthma, shoulders condition, ankles condition, eye condition (bilateral dry macular degeneration), peripheral vascular disease (heart condition), and rhinitis.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 50 percent rating for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and denied increased ratings for right shoulder impingement syndrome, hearing loss, painful scar, patellofemoral pain syndromes of the knees, and other conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including a head injury, headache disorder, erectile dysfunction, left earache disorder, chronic fatigue, right shoulder disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, right foot disorder, GERD, and left shoulder disorder, as the evidence did not support current diagnoses of these conditions.
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