The Board denied the appellant's claims for TDIU and SMC based on her husband's service-connected bilateral flat feet disability. The Board found that his foot disability did not preclude him from substantially gainful employment, nor did it meet the criteria for special monthly compensation due to anatomical loss or use.
The deciding factor: The veteran's service-connected bilateral flat feet with bunions and calluses did not render him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation, as his age was considered in determining unemployability. The Board also found that the foot disability did not meet the criteria for special monthly compensation due to anatomical loss or use.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral flat feet with bunions and calluses
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 26, 2004
- Citation
- 0410950
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 0410950.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran was granted a TDIU rating for accrued benefits purposes based on an earlier effective date of May 6, 1988, due to his service-connected bilateral flat feet with bunions and calluses. The Board found that the evidence in the file at the time of the Veteran's death showed he was unable to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation by reason of this disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's bilateral flat feet with bunions and calluses were initially rated at 10 percent prior to February 25, 2008, and increased to 30 percent beginning that date. The low back strain was initially rated at 20 percent and remained at that level. The chronic cystitis required a separate 10 percent rating. Uterine fibroids were rated as 10 percent effective from February 25, 2008.
- Granted
The Board has granted entitlement to TDIU for accrued benefits purposes due to the veteran's service-connected bilateral flat feet with bunions and calluses. The claim for SMC based on loss of use of a foot or both feet is denied as there was no evidence of anatomical loss, loss of use of one hand and one foot, blindness in both eyes, permanent bedridden status, or need for regular aid and attendance.
- 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.
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