The Board has determined that the veteran's knee and ankle disabilities do not warrant a disability rating in excess of 10 percent. The right thumb disability also does not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
The deciding factor: The VA examination findings did not show any instability or subluxation, which are required for higher ratings under Diagnostic Codes 5257 and 5261.
- Claimed conditions
- Left Knee Degenerative Spurring and Osteoarthritic Spurring, Right Knee Degenerative Spurring and Osteoarthritic Spurring, Left Ankle Degenerative Joint Disease, Right Ankle Degenerative Joint Disease, Right Thumb Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 15, 2008
- Citation
- 0801628
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 0801628.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for a compensable evaluation for a right thumb disability and TDIU prior to October 13, 2016 have been dismissed due to the finality of previous decisions by the Board and the Court.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for increased ratings of his acquired psychiatric, cervical spine, lumbar spine, right thumb, right index finger, and right long finger disabilities.
- Granted
The Veteran's right thumb disability, scar, and hearing loss have been granted service connection with effective dates of September 9, 2024.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have any of the claimed disabilities and therefore, service connection for right thumb, left thumb, right index finger, left index finger, right middle finger, left middle finger, right ring finger, left ring finger, right small finger, or left small finger disabilities is denied.
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