The veteran's service-connected disabilities, alone, render him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation.
The deciding factor: The veteran has significant knee conditions that impair his ability to ambulate and work in a labor field. His combined disability rating meets the schedular criteria for TDIU under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a).
- Claimed conditions
- Residuals of a total left knee replacement, Total right knee replacement as secondary to the left knee disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- May 19, 2008
- Citation
- 0816360
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,642 · Granted: 19% (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 0816360.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran was granted a TDIU on an extraschedular basis from July 31, 2015 to October 23, 2017 and for the period from December 1, 2018. The claim for a rating in excess of 60 percent for residuals of a total left knee replacement under DC 5055 for the period from December 1, 2018 was dismissed.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of December 5, 2013, for the award of service connection for residuals of a total left knee replacement and July 30, 2018, for the award of service connection for migraine headaches as secondary to PTSD.
- Denied
The Board denied a rating in excess of 10 percent for instability of the right knee, and remanded other issues including ratings for osteoarthritis of the left and right knees, residuals of total knee replacements, DDD of the thoracolumbar spine, and radiculopathy of the left lower extremity.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for a new VA examination to assess the impairment resulting from his service-connected left knee disability, including range of motion testing and other relevant factors. The issue will be reconsidered after this additional development.
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