The Board has denied the Veteran's claims of service connection for lower back, bilateral leg, and bilateral ankle disorders due to a lack of evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinions provided by the August 2023 examiner found it unlikely that current arthritic disorders are related to service, citing the absence of chronic disease manifestations during or immediately after service and the Veteran's age-related development of arthritis.
- Claimed conditions
- lower back disorder, bilateral leg disorder, bilateral ankle disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 20, 2023
- Citation
- 23067043
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 23067043.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for lower back, right hip, and right ankle disorders as secondary to his left knee disorder. The AOJ must obtain VA examinations and provide answers to questions regarding the etiology of these conditions.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a thoracolumbar spine disability, but denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss disorder, gout, multiple painful joints, bilateral ankle disorder, bilateral knee disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for an initial disability rating of 50 percent for major depressive disorder is granted. The claim for service connection for a bilateral leg disorder is denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including left hip disorder, bilateral ankle disorder, bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy, heart disorder, insomnia, sexual arousal disorder, gynecological disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, and HTN. The evidence did not support a current diagnosis of these conditions or their relationship to military service.
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