The Board has granted a rating of 20 percent for chondromalacia of the right knee with traumatic arthritis, effective from the date of the original grant of service connection. The claim for residuals of an injury to the left little finger remains pending as no evidence linking it to service was provided.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that there is no medical evidence linking the current disability to service and thus denied service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- chondromalacia of the right knee with traumatic arthritis, residuals of an injury to the left fifth metacarpophalangeal
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- May 4, 2004
- Citation
- 0411649
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,440 · 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 0411649.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including a new VA examination for his bilateral knee disabilities and readjudication of the TDIU claim. The acquired psychiatric disorder issue must also be addressed in a Statement of the Case.
- Granted
The Board granted an increase in disability compensation for service-connected chondromalacia of the left and right knees with traumatic arthritis, effective from July 16, 1986. The veteran is now eligible to receive attorney fees based on past-due benefits resulting from this award.
- 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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