The Board denied the petitions to reopen claims for service connection for headache, neck, and thoracic back pain due to a lack of new and material evidence.
The deciding factor: The newly submitted evidence was not sufficient to raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claims as it did not show that the Veteran's conditions were incurred in or are otherwise etiologically related to her active service.
- Claimed conditions
- Headache disorder, Neck disorder, Thoracic back pain (claimed as residuals, upper back injury)
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 24, 2024
- Citation
- 24003692
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, chronic rhinitis, and obstructive sleep apnea. The headache claim was remanded for further examination.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for a total disability rating due to individual unemployability (TDIU) as it was not factually ascertainable that he was unable to obtain or maintain substantially gainful employment prior to April 28, 2016.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for hearing loss, psychiatric disorder, neck disorder, and radiculopathy of both upper and lower extremities to correct duty-to-assist errors.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the claims for tinnitus, a headache disorder, a foot disability, a left ankle disability, a low back disability, radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, and an acquired psychiatric disorder.
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