38 CFR § 4.113
Coexisting abdominal conditions
Comes up when a veteran has more than one diagnosed digestive condition and asks why they are not rated separately.
How the Board actually uses this section
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The grant figure reflects the mix of claims where this section comes up, not the legal merit of any single claim.
Read the 3,296 decisions citing § 4.113
The conditions it decides
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What this regulation says, in plain English
This section explains that certain digestive and abdominal diseases produce overlapping symptoms, abdominal pain, anemia, and nutrition problems, so VA generally cannot give separate ratings for coexisting conditions in this group without violating the rule against pyramiding (double-counting the same symptoms).
Read the full text of 38 CFR § 4.113
This text was last amended by VA on December 14, 2016. We check it against eCFR every week.
There are diseases of the digestive system, particularly within the abdomen, which, while differing in the site of pathology, produce a common disability picture characterized in the main by varying degrees of abdominal distress or pain, anemia and disturbances in nutrition. Consequently, certain coexisting diseases in this area, as indicated in the instruction under the title “Diseases of the Digestive System,” do not lend themselves to distinct and separate disability evaluations without violating the fundamental principle relating to pyramiding as outlined in § 4.14.
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