The Board has granted service connection for a left thumb disability, finding that the Veteran's current condition is due to his in-service injury and resolving all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
The deciding factor: The Board found credible the Veteran's account of an in-service injury and accepted Dr. Y.H.'s opinion linking the current arthritis to the 1972 injury, while also considering the Veteran's continuity of symptoms since service.
- Claimed conditions
- left thumb arthritis, status post CM joint arthrodesis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 6, 2022
- Citation
- 22000846
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,240 · Granted: 28% (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 22000846.
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 Board has granted service connection for left thumb arthritis and right thumb arthritis, finding that the Veteran's current disabilities are related to his active duty service.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for several left-sided joint conditions and a right shoulder disability, while denying service connection for a skeletal system disorder other than degenerative arthritis and a right knee disability.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, vertigo, and various other conditions as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to the Veteran's active duty.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remanded the case for further development, including an adequate VA examination and a determination of whether separate ratings or service connection are warranted for paresthesias and/or muscle atrophy as distinct disabilities of the Veteran's service-connected left wrist or left-hand disabilities.
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