The veteran's appeal is denied as his claimed left ankle disability, service-connected shell fragment wounds of the left upper and lower thigh with myofascial pain syndrome, and shrapnel wound of the left knee are not proximately due to or the result of service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there was no evidence showing a direct link between the veteran's claimed conditions and his service-connected disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Left ankle disability, Shell fragment wounds of the left upper and lower thigh with myofascial pain syndrome, Shrapnel wound of the left knee
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 6, 2003
- Citation
- 0303893
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 191 · Granted: 32% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0303893.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted the appellant's claim for service connection for left ankle disability residuals, finding that his current condition is due to an in-service injury and granting the benefit of the doubt.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claims for service connection have been dismissed due to their death.
- Granted
The Veteran's left ankle disability and headache disorder secondary to PTSD with alcohol use disorder have been granted increased ratings, effective September 16, 2018.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection were denied as the increase in severity of his conditions was not factually ascertainable within one year prior to March 30, 2023.,The effective dates for the grants of service connection for left knee instability and right knee instability are also denied.
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