The Board denied service connection for a gastrointestinal disability, including GERD and hiatal hernia, as it is not related to any injury, disease, or event incurred in service, or to the service-connected orthopedic and psychiatric disabilities.
The deciding factor: The VA opinions collectively found that there was no evidence of obesity nor that the Veteran's service-connected conditions had caused him to become obese, which would have led to his GERD. The Board also considered the direct service connection theory but found it less likely than not that any currently diagnosed condition was incurred in or caused by an in-service incident.
- Claimed conditions
- gastrointestinal disability, to include gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and hiatal hernia
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 11, 2025
- Citation
- A25021976
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