The Board has determined that the veteran's service-connected disabilities render him so helpless as to require regular aid and attendance, granting special monthly compensation based on this need.
The deciding factor: The evidence showed that the veteran's service-connected injuries, combined with his non-service connected disability (left hemiparesis), rendered him unable to protect himself from daily environmental hazards due to functional loss of lower extremities.
- Claimed conditions
- shell fragment wounds in the left knee and leg, shell fragment wound of the right thigh, scars from shell fragment wounds of the left thigh and right foot, degenerative changes in the left ankle, appendectomy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 50%
- Decision date
- May 6, 2003
- Citation
- 0308546
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 734 · Granted: 9% (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 0308546.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for abdominal scars was implicitly denied in the August 1994 rating decision, as her surgeries were already addressed and rated under different diagnostic codes.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of painful or tender abdominal scars associated with Crohn's disease, status-post ileocecal resection, appendectomy, and diverticulitis is dismissed as a freestanding earlier effective date claim.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of residuals of abdominal injury, finding that no valid claim was filed before March 3, 1978.
- Denied
The Board denied various claims for increased ratings and effective dates, except for granting a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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