The Board finds that the evidence is at least evenly balanced for and against the veteran's claim, granting compensation benefits pursuant to 38 U.S.C.A. § 1151 for the residuals of right ankle surgery performed at a VA facility in March 1993.
The deciding factor: The opinion from the most recent VA examiner concluded that there was an error in judgment intraoperatively related to inadequate fixation of the fractured right ankle, resulting in additional disability including arthritis.
- Claimed conditions
- Right ankle fracture, Post-traumatic arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 2, 2003
- Citation
- 0310956
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,055 · Granted: 31% (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 0310956.
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 Board denied the Veteran's motion to revise a March 1975 rating decision that assigned an initial noncompensable disability rating for service-connected right ankle fracture, finding no CUE in the decision.
- Granted
The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, left ankle disorder, and right ankle fracture are all granted service connection. The right ankle fracture is remanded for a higher disability rating.
- Granted
The Board has granted an initial 40 percent rating for the Veteran's right ankle disability, finding that his symptoms more nearly approximated ankylosis in dorsiflexion at more than 10 degrees during flare-ups and after repetitive use over time.
- Denied
The Veteran's left knee disability was rated at 10 percent from October 22, 2019 to November 27, 2019 due to limited flexion of the knee. The Board found that his flexion did not reach less than 30 degrees and denied a higher rating.
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