The Board granted service connection for multiple disabilities, including lumbar and cervical spine disabilities, bowel and bladder incontinence, respiratory disability, loss of balance and incoordination, foot pain, loss of hair to the lower extremities, and chills.
The deciding factor: The evidence supports a relationship between the Veteran's current disabilities and his service, particularly combat-related injuries sustained during active duty.
- Claimed conditions
- Lumbar and cervical spine disabilities, to include incomplete quadriplegia with chronic fatigue, Bowel and bladder incontinence, Respiratory disability, to include neuromuscular respiratory disorder and left lung atelectasis (claimed as shortness of breath), Disability manifesting in loss of balance and incoordination, Disability manifesting in foot pain, Disability manifesting in loss of hair to the lower extremities, Disability manifesting in chills
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 10, 2025
- Citation
- 25014740
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,890 · Granted: 32% (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 25014740.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Veteran was granted a higher rating of 50 percent for his lumbar spine disability, service connection for bowel and bladder incontinence as secondary to the lumbar spine disability, TDIU from May 11, 2011, to May 10, 2012, but SMC at the housebound rate was denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for degenerative disc disease of the lumbosacral spine has been granted with an effective date of March 24, 2020.,The Veteran's claim for a compensable disability rating for bilateral hearing loss disability was denied.,The Veteran's claims for higher ratings for MDD and other specified trauma and stressor related disorder, lumbosacral radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, lumbosacral radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, and service connection for bowel and bladder incontinence were remanded.,The Veteran's claims are being returned to VA for further action.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted a higher level of SMC based on his service-connected disabilities, including loss of use of both lower extremities and incontinence issues. The decision also grants aid and attendance benefits due to the need for regular assistance with daily activities.
- Granted
The veteran's incomplete paraplegia with bowel and bladder incontinence is determined to be due to surgery for spinal arteriovenous malformation (AVM) at a VA facility, which aggravated his pre-existing condition.
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