Ankle decisions — 2025

The Board dismissed the appeals for service connection for various conditions as the notice of disagreement was not filed within a year from the mailing of the rating decisions.

The Board granted service connection for a right knee disability as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected left knee disability, but denied service connection for right ankle and left elbow disabilities. The Board also denied increased ratings for the Veteran's left knee and left ankle conditions.

The Board granted a 50 percent rating for nonspecific headaches, effective October 22, 2022, but denied service connection for left ankle sprain and remanded claims for chest pain and back disability.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for increased ratings and remanded several other claims for further development.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for a left ankle disorder and right foot disorder due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.

The Board remands the service connection claims for a left foot condition, right wrist condition, left wrist condition, lower abdomen condition with pain, right ankle condition, and left ankle condition due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, right and left shoulder conditions, and a left ankle condition due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for various joint disabilities, including arthritis, to obtain additional evidence and a more thorough examination.

The appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's death during the pendency of the appeal.

The Board denied increased ratings for tension headaches with migraine variants and lumbosacral strain with retrolisthesis, compression fracture L1 and degenerative disc disease, but granted a 20 percent rating for left ankle tendonitis status post fracture. The Board also granted service connection for a left knee disorder as secondary to the service-connected conditions and for gastroesophageal reflux disease and cervical spine disorder.

The Board granted a 70 percent disability rating for the veteran's unspecified depressive disorder with anxious distress and alcohol use disorder, while denying earlier effective dates and increased ratings for other conditions.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for various disabilities, including a back disability, left ankle disability, left knee disability, left shoulder disability, and psychiatric disorder, due to inadequate medical opinions.

The Board denied an initial rating in excess of 70 percent for major depressive disorder recurrent with psychotic features and remanded the claims for service connection for a low back disability, entitlement to a rating in excess of 10 percent for right foot strain, and entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for right ankle strain with Achilles tendonitis.

The Board denied service connection for several conditions, including an acquired psychiatric disability, hypertension, IBS, right ankle and left ankle disabilities, a right hip disability, and a low back disability. However, the Board granted service connection for erectile dysfunction, sleep apnea, right knee strain, and left knee strain, as well as a 10% rating for left hip plasmacytoma limitation of extension.

The Board granted service connection for lumbosacral strain and an initial disability rating of 20 percent, but no higher, for the entire period on appeal, for right ankle tendonitis.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for left hip, right hip, and left ankle disabilities as secondary to service-connected conditions due to deficiencies in prior VA opinions.

The appeal for an increased rating for right ankle pain and foot pain was dismissed due to the lack of a proper Notice of Disagreement with a prior rating decision.

The Board granted service connection for diabetes mellitus, right knee disability, right ankle disability, and headaches, but denied service connection for a traumatic brain injury and schizophrenia.

The Board granted service connection for a low back disability, left knee disability, right knee disability, and right ankle disability. Additionally, the Veteran was granted a 70 percent rating for her mood disorder with depressive features.

The Board remands the service connection claims for various conditions, including vision disability, allergies, and back pain, due to insufficient evidence of toxic exposure risk activities (TERA) at Camp Lejeune.