The Board denied entitlement to disability ratings in excess of 10 percent for cold injuries of the right and left hands, finding that the law does not allow retroactive increases after service connection was severed.
The deciding factor: The law disallows retroactive increases or additional benefits when basic entitlement has been terminated by severance of service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- cold injury of the right hand, cold injury of the left hand
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 29, 2026
- Citation
- A26008511
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 A26008511.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for cold injuries to the face, nose, ears, left hand, and right hand due to a lack of evidence showing current disabilities related to in-service cold exposure.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings in excess of the current schedular ratings for cold injuries to his hands and ears have been dismissed due to withdrawal by the Veteran.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran is seeking service connection for cold injury-related conditions in both hands. The case has been remanded to obtain additional medical records and for further development.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, alone, do not meet the criteria for a TDIU as they are insufficient to produce unemployability without regard to advancing age. The medical evidence does not support that the Veteran is unable to obtain substantially gainful employment solely due to his service-connected disabilities.
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