Arthritis secondary to cold injury

In the Board decisions we have indexed since 2019, arthritis appeared as secondary to cold injury in 9 issues. The Board granted 0, denied 2, and sent 7 back for more work. Of the ones it decided, it granted 0 percent.

Every decision counted here is an appeal. The regional office decided the claim first, the veteran disagreed, and the Board is the next step after that. These are not the odds on a first claim.

Since 2019

Across every year we have indexed, that is 124 issues, 12 percent granted of the ones decided, and 46 percent sent back for more work.

What a secondary claim needs

In a secondary claim, the Board reads for three things. A diagnosis of the second condition. A first condition that is already service connected. And a medical opinion that says the first condition led to the second, or made it worse, and explains why. The rule itself is shorter than that. Here is the part that matters.

… disability which is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury shall be service connected.

38 CFR 3.310(a), from the middle of its first sentence

Proximately due to means the first condition led to the second. The other route is aggravation, where the first condition made the second worse. The rule for that route is in the next paragraph of the same section, and it says increase in severity.

Any increase in severity of a nonservice-connected disease or injury that is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury, and not due to the natural progress of the nonservice-connected disease, will be service connected.

38 CFR 3.310(b), first sentence

That paragraph goes on to say the VA will not concede aggravation without a baseline. A baseline is medical evidence of how bad the second condition was before the first one started making it worse, or the earliest record after that and before the evidence of how bad it is now. If you claim aggravation, find the earliest record you have of the second condition, from either window. Without a baseline from one of them, the VA will not concede aggravation. The other route, that the first condition led to the second, does not need a baseline.

A remand is not a yes or a no. The Board sends the claim back to the regional office for more work, such as a new exam or a record that was not in the file. The claim is decided again later, and that later decision is a separate document.

Decisions on these claims

The newest decision we could link for these claims is not recent. The counts above cover every year we indexed.

• August 20, 2020Denied

  Entitlement to service connection for a right wrist disability, to include degenerative joint disease, carpal tunnel syndrome, and ankylosis, including as secondary to service-connected frostbite

  Read the decision at VA.gov
• October 2, 2019Denied

  Entitlement to service connection for arthritis of the left and right hands, to include as secondary to the service connected residuals of frostbite

  Read the decision at VA.gov
• August 10, 2018Granted

  Service connection for osteoarthritis of the hands and feet secondary to service-connected frostbite residuals

  Read the decision at VA.gov
• March 22, 2012Granted

  Entitlement to service connection for arthritis of the right knee and gouty arthritis of the feet including as secondary to service-connected residuals of frostbite of the hands.

  Read the decision at VA.gov
• November 15, 2006Granted

  Entitlement to service connection for arthritis of both hands, to include as secondary to the service connected frostbite of both hands with residual sensory neuropathy.

  Read the decision at VA.gov