The Board has granted service connection for a right knee disability and an initial evaluation of 20 percent for the residuals of a left ankle fracture. The claim for hypercholesterolemia is being remanded.
The deciding factor: The veteran's complaints of right knee pain during service, along with diagnoses of patellofemoral syndrome, established service connection for his current condition. For the left ankle disability, the Board found moderate to marked limitation of motion and granted a 20 percent rating based on functional loss due to pain.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee patellofemoral syndrome, hypercholesterolemia, left ankle fracture
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- March 3, 2004
- Citation
- 0405786
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 244 · Granted: 30% (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 0405786.
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 hypertension, left knee patellofemoral syndrome, and right knee patellofemoral syndrome have been granted service connection as secondary to his service-connected disabilities. The lumbar spine disability has also been granted but the effective date is not specified.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the Veteran's appeal for service connection for various conditions including hypoglycemia, sinusitis, left foot pes planus, right foot pes planus, right foot plantar fasciitis, left ankle pain, left hip osteoarthritis, left knee sprain, bradycardia, dry eye, hernia, hypercholesterolemia, and bilateral hearing loss.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities have rendered him unable to secure and follow substantially gainful employment, leading to a TDIU rating.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's right knee patellofemoral syndrome and degenerative arthritis are at least as likely as not related to his service-connected left knee bursitis, granting service connection for these conditions on a secondary basis.
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