The Board has determined that the veteran does not have left foot hammer toes or gout of the feet, and therefore service connection for these conditions is denied. The evaluation for bilateral pes planus with arthritis, right foot hallux valgus, and hammer toes remains unchanged as there is no evidence of a current disability.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the competent evidence does not support the presence of left foot hammer toes or gout of the feet at any time since service. The February 2005 VA examination did not find hammer toe deformities in the left foot, and there is no medical evidence showing an acute gout attack.
- Claimed conditions
- Gout of the feet, Left foot hammer toes
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 20, 2006
- Citation
- 0629803
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,454 · 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 0629803.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for right foot hammer toe as secondary to the Veteran's already service-connected post-operative bunionectomy/osteotomy of the right great toe with internal fixation. The claim for a compensable rating for left foot hammer toes was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for an increased rating and TDIU, as the evidence did not support a higher schedular rating or entitlement to a TDIU.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial 10 percent disability rating for left and right foot hammer toes, denied a higher rating for PTSD, and denied a compensable rating for the left foot scar. The penile condition was remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for left and right foot hammer toes and left and right lower extremity radiculopathy, finding that a compensable rating was not warranted.
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