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Denied

The Board denied service connection for a left knee disorder, right upper extremity disorder, and left upper extremity disorder as the evidence did not support an etiological relationship between these conditions and the Veteran's active duty service.

The deciding factor: The probative evidence of record does not support a finding that the current shoulder and knee disorders are related to in-service events or exposure. The VA examiner concluded that the degenerative changes noted were more likely due to aging rather than military service, and there was no evidence of cold-weather injuries during service.

Claimed conditions
left knee disorder (degenerative joint disease/osteoarthritis), right upper extremity disorder (right shoulder degenerative arthritis and right shoulder sprain), left upper extremity disorder (left shoulder degenerative arthritis)
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
June 18, 2025
Citation
25008162

Veterans Law Judge

Tiffany Dawson

Decisions by this judge: 998 · Granted: 40% (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 25008162.

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