The Veteran's service-connected frostbite residuals do not preclude him from obtaining and maintaining substantially gainful employment, based on his past work history and current medical evaluations.
The deciding factor: The Veteran has a combined service-connected rating of 80% for frostbite residuals, but the evidence does not show that these disabilities alone are sufficient to prevent him from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation.
- Claimed conditions
- left hand frostbite, right hand frostbite, left ear frostbite, right ear frostbite
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 18, 2022
- Citation
- A22023414
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 A22023414.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for several conditions but remanded others for further review.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded several issues for further development, including investigating the Veteran's service in Korea and Kuwait, obtaining his complete military personnel records, and obtaining any outstanding VA and private treatment records. The claims for right hand frostbite, bilateral hand disability, back disability, acquired psychiatric disorder (including depression and/or PTSD), left knee disability, right knee disability, and bilateral hearing loss are all remanded.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection were denied as the evidence did not support higher ratings or additional service-connected disabilities.
- 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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