Knee decisions — 2009

The Board has determined that the Veteran's current left knee, bilateral hip, and lower back disabilities are not related to service or a service-connected disability. Therefore, the claims for these conditions have been denied.

The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for right and left hip disabilities, as well as his claims for service connection for right and left knee disabilities. The appeals are remanded to the RO for further development.

The Veteran's left knee disability is currently rated at 10 percent, and the Board finds no basis to grant a higher rating based on the evidence of record.

The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not preclude her from obtaining or maintaining any form of substantially gainful employment consistent with her education and occupational background, as she is currently working as a home health nurse for two different agencies.

The Board has reopened the Veteran's claim for service connection for low back disability and found new and material evidence to support this claim. The claims for bilateral knee and hip disabilities are remanded for further development.

The Veteran's claims for service connection for right ear hearing loss and right knee disability were denied. Service connection was granted for a bone spur of the right heel, but with no compensable rating assigned.

The Board has decided to remand the case due to evidentiary deficiencies, and further development is required before the merits of the claim can be addressed.

The Veteran's claims for bilateral ankle, shoulder, knee, low back, and left hip disabilities were denied as not related to service.

The Veteran's service-connected conditions do not preclude him from obtaining and retaining all forms of substantially gainful employment consistent with his education and work experience.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a disorder manifested by muscle weakness with pain of the knees, legs, and arms, as well as for osteoarthritis and rotator cuff problems of the shoulders. The evidence did not support the presence of these conditions during or after service.

The Board found no evidence of a left knee injury during service and insufficient medical evidence to link the current left knee disorder to service. The Veteran's account was presumed credible, but she failed to cooperate with VA in obtaining relevant post-service medical records.

The Board denied all increased rating claims for the Veteran's bilateral knee disabilities, finding that the evidence did not meet the criteria for a higher disability rating.

The Veteran's appeal is remanded due to the need for additional VA examinations and records, including those from the East Los Angeles Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) and the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center. The case will be readjudicated based on the new evidence.

The Veteran's degenerative joint disease of the left knee is found to be secondary to his service-connected left foot disorder. The Board finds that the Veteran's sleep apnea is not related to his service-connected residuals of a broken nose.

The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including a VA examination to assess the current severity of his service-connected posttraumatic arthritis of the left knee and shell fragment wound to the buttocks area.

The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date than December 13, 2004 for the grant of service connection for a left knee disability. The decision found that the earliest effective date was December 13, 2004.

The Veteran's claims for effective dates prior to April 29, 1999, for service connection for residuals of right and left knee strains were denied as the earliest effective date that can be assigned is April 29, 1999.

The Board finds that the Veteran's current bilateral knee disability is related to his active service, and grants service connection for this condition.

The Board found that there is no current evidence of a bilateral knee disability and thus denied the Veteran's claim for service connection.

The Board denied the appellant's claims for increased ratings and earlier effective dates for her Chrondomalaica (Chondromalacia Patellae) knees.,Both knees are currently rated at 10 percent disabling, with no additional issues related to service connection or exposure.