The Board found that the veteran's initial injury of a fracture of his right 4th metacarpal healed in good alignment and there were no current objective clinical indications of limitation of motion, arthritis or ankylosis. Therefore, the criteria for an initial compensable rating are not met.
The deciding factor: The VA examination reports did not show any current functional limitations that would warrant a higher rating than noncompensable (0 percent).
- Claimed conditions
- fracture of the right 4th metacarpal
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 0%
- Decision date
- April 2, 2004
- Citation
- 0408668
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · 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 0408668.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a fracture of the right 5th metacarpal, resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran. Service connection was denied for a fracture of the right 4th metacarpal.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for low back disability, bronchial asthma, and residuals of a fracture of the right 4th metacarpal due to lack of evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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