Knee decisions — 2009

The veteran is unable to secure and maintain substantially gainful employment due to the severity of his service-connected disabilities, specifically bilateral hearing loss.

The veteran's chronic eczema was rated at 30 percent, and his right and left knee DJD were each rated at 20 percent from February 27, 2007.

The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for a chronic right knee disability for further development, including an examination.

The Board denied service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder, residuals of a head injury, respiratory disease, bilateral ankle disability, arthritis, right wrist injury, peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and right knee disability.

The veteran's claims for increased ratings for his right and left knee disorders were remanded to the RO for additional development, including a new VA examination.

The Board denied service connection for traumatic arthritis of the right hip, left knee, and coronary artery disease as there was no evidence linking these conditions to the veteran's period of active military service.

The appeal is being remanded to obtain additional evidence, including records from the veteran's VA and private treatment providers.

The veteran's claims for service connection and increased ratings were denied as the evidence did not support a finding of chronic lumbar strain, or an increase in severity of right knee, left knee, or left hand disorders.

The veteran did not submit a timely appeal of the decision which assigned an initial rating for his left knee disorder, and the Board denied higher ratings for thoracic spine fracture residuals and cervical spine injury residuals.

The appeal is remanded for further development of the evidence before final adjudication.

The veteran's service-connected right knee disorder was denied a rating in excess of 20 percent, as the evidence did not support a higher rating based on limitation of motion or instability.

The veteran's bilateral tinnitus is service-connected, but his claims for bilateral hearing loss and a left knee disorder are denied.

The veteran failed to report for necessary VA examinations, and the evidence does not support increased ratings or service connection for his claimed conditions.

The Board reopened the claims for service connection for a bilateral knee condition and a bilateral ankle condition, but denied the requests to reopen claims for service connection for anxiety neurosis, hysteria, and a bilateral foot condition.

The veteran's reflex sympathetic dystrophy of the lower extremities is aggravated by his service-connected residuals of surgical removal of osteochondroma of the left knee. The veteran's residuals of a surgical scar of the left knee and residuals of fractures of the 3rd and 5th fingers of the right hand do not warrant an initial compensable evaluation.

The appeal of the veteran's claim for an effective date prior to January 13, 2003 for additional compensation for a dependent child based on school attendance was denied.

The Board granted service connection for degenerative joint disease (DJD) in both knees and a right hand disorder, but denied an increased rating for the status post compression fracture of T12 and a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss and arthritis of the left fourth finger.

The veteran's service-connected residuals of a fracture to the right lateral malleolus do not warrant a rating in excess of 10 percent.

The veteran's left knee disability was rated as noncompensable for instability and limitation of motion, with a 10 percent rating assigned for the latter.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for a low back strain, to include as secondary to his service-connected shell fragment wound scars of the right flank, abdomen, and back.