The Board has determined that the appellant's service-connected disabilities render him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation, and thus grants a total disability rating for compensation purposes based on individual unemployability.
The deciding factor: The combined disability rating of 90% meets the criteria for a total rating under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a), and the appellant's service-connected disabilities interfere with his ability to secure or follow substantially gainful employment due to multiple joint problems, back issues, foot conditions, and other symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- mild degenerative disc disease at L3-L4 and L4-L5, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), headaches with dizziness, moderate degenerative disc disease and uncinate joint hypertrophy at C4-C5 and C5-C6, multiple healed left foot fractures, with fusion of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th tarsometatarsal joints, and with no hardware complications, and midfoot degenerative joint disease, musculoligamentous strain of the right knee, musculoligamentous strain of the left knee, paresthesias of the left heel, tinnitus, bilateral hearing loss, musculoligamentous strain and tendonitis of the left hand, scars of the left foot
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 90%
- Decision date
- June 22, 2004
- Citation
- 0416245
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,293 · Granted: 17% (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 0416245.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hearing loss, tinnitus, and an acquired psychiatric disorder due to incomplete medical records and need for further examination.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for tinnitus, arthritis, and memory loss. The decision found no evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
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