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
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
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- Denied
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- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include unspecified depressive disorder with social anxiety disorder and PTSD, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor.
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