The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for right upper extremity radiculopathy as secondary to a cervical condition, finding that there was no evidence of an in-service injury or disease related to the current disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's opinion and the lack of documentation supporting the reported 1986 M113 accident made it unlikely that the Veteran's current neck pain and RUE radiculopathy were incurred in service, while private medical opinions held less probative weight due to limited access to the full claims file.
- Claimed conditions
- Right upper extremity (RUE) radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 3, 2025
- Citation
- A25031131
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 left and right upper extremity radiculopathy, finding that there was no evidence linking these conditions to the Veteran's period of military service or his service-connected low back disability.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to untimely filing of the Notice of Disagreement (NOD) for claims related to an increased rating and service connection, as well as lack of jurisdiction over a previously granted claim for sinusitis.
- Partly granted
The Board granted the restoration of a 20 percent rating for cervical strain from October 1, 2024, and denied compensable ratings for bilateral hearing loss, scars on both knees, upper extremity radiculopathies, and service connection for wrist disorders.
- 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.
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