The Board finds that the veteran's back disorder and left ankle condition are not service-connected, as there is no evidence of a chronic disability in service or any link to service. The veteran's current conditions were first demonstrated many years after service.
The deciding factor: There is no competent medical evidence linking the veteran's degenerative disc disease of the cervical and lumbar spines, and degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine, initially demonstrated in the 1990s, to an injury in service. The left ankle condition was first noted post-service and does not meet the schedular criteria for a compensable evaluation.
- Claimed conditions
- Back disorder, Left ankle injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 0%
- Decision date
- May 29, 2003
- Citation
- 0310271
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 407 · Granted: 23% (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 0310271.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for right and left ankle injuries, finding that there is no evidence of a nexus between the current conditions and military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's back disorder is granted a rating of 10 percent, and his chronic kidney disease is granted service connection based on being secondary to his service-connected hypertension.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for back, left knee, and left ankle disabilities as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected right knee tendinitis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for a back disorder and a foot disorder due to incomplete or inaccurate factual premises in previous medical opinions. The Veteran's hearing loss claim is denied as his bilateral hearing acuity does not meet the criteria for a compensable evaluation.
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