The veteran is currently shown to be unemployable due to service-connected disabilities and the Board has determined that he meets the criteria for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability.
The deciding factor: The evidence shows that the veteran's bilateral knee disorders render him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation, with his Social Security Administration determination supporting this finding.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease of the Left Knee, Status Post Right Total Knee Replacement
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- May 1, 2003
- Citation
- 0308297
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · Granted: 24% (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 0308297.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's left knee instability and limitation of extension associated with degenerative joint disease are rated at 20 percent from June 14, 2010 to January 11, 2016.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased initial disability rating for his service-connected degenerative joint disease of the left knee is being remanded due to inadequate VA examination reports. The Board finds that additional evidence and a new medical opinion are needed to properly assess the severity of the Veteran's condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The case is remanded due to insufficient information regarding the severity of the Veteran's left knee recurrent subluxation at the December 2022 VA examination, and further development is needed.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for erectile dysfunction and earlier effective dates for the awards of service connection for left hip degenerative arthritis, right hip degenerative arthritis, and tinnitus. It also granted a TDIU from September 24, 2021, and basic eligibility for Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) from that date.
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