The Board has granted service connection for a lumbar spine disability, diagnosed as degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine. However, it denied service connection for bilateral eye disability, diagnosed as cataracts.
The deciding factor: The February 2020 VA examiner found that the Veteran's current diagnoses of 'degenerative arthritis of the spine and degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine' are related to his in-service low back injuries, including a motor vehicle accident in December 1976. The examiner also noted the Veteran's credible statements of continuity of symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Eye Disability (Cataracts), Lumbar Spine Disability (Degenerative Disc Disease and Degenerative Arthritis)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 11, 2022
- Citation
- 22001298
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 399 · Granted: 41% (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 22001298.
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 Veteran seeks an earlier effective date for TDIU and DEA benefits due to service-connected disabilities. The Board has remanded the claims as there is insufficient evidence to substantiate a reasonable possibility that the Veteran is unemployable by reason of his service-connected disabilities, but the failure to refer the issue of entitlement to a TDIU prior to June 20, 2017 to the Director was an error in satisfying a regulatory duty.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case to obtain an adequate medical opinion regarding the etiology of the claimed bilateral eye disability and to provide a toxic exposure risk activity (TERA) examination.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral eye disability and hypertension, finding no causal link between the disabilities and active service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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