The Veteran's claim for service connection for a low back disability was denied, and his earlier effective date claim for the assignment of a 100 percent rating for asthma with COPD was granted as of September 17, 2021.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no evidence linking the Veteran's current low back disability to service, and there was insufficient continuity of symptomatology post-service. The earlier effective date claim was granted based on continuous pursuit of the claim for an increased rating since March 7, 2019.
- Claimed conditions
- low back disability (lumbar degenerative disc disease with facet arthropathy), asthma with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- November 4, 2024
- Citation
- A24071449
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,287 · Granted: 23% (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 A24071449.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him unable to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation from December 28, 2010, to August 26, 2016. The Board granted the TDIU on an extraschedular basis for this period.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for headache attributed to RCVS and persistent thunderclap headache, restored a disability rating of 60 percent for asthma with COPD, denied an initial rating greater than 60 percent for asthma with COPD, denied an initial rating greater than 10 percent for RCVS and aphasia, granted separate ratings for muscle weakness in the upper and lower extremities due to RCVS, denied a higher rating for myocardial infarction with arteriosclerotic heart disease, granted TDIU from August 23, 2023, and granted an effective date of August 23, 2023, for DEA benefits.
- Partly granted
The Veteran was granted a disability rating of 30 percent for asthma with COPD prior to October 30, 2024, but the claim for a higher rating was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's appeal for an earlier effective date for service connection of asthma with COPD, as the claim was granted under the PACT Act on August 10, 2022.
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