The Board found that the Veteran's right below the knee amputation was not attributable to VA's failure to diagnose and/or treat peripheral vascular disease (PVD) or Buerger's disease at an earlier date, and was a reasonably foreseeable event.
The deciding factor: The VHA opinion concluded that the diagnosis of PVD should have been made prior to May 2001 but that the consequences for the Veteran would not have been less severe if amputation had occurred earlier due to the nature of his condition and the lack of effective treatment options at the time.
- Claimed conditions
- Right below the knee amputation
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 16, 2009
- Citation
- 0909608
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,699 · 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 0909608.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's right leg below the knee amputation was granted a rating of 60 percent, effective from November 1, 2012. The Veteran's entitlement to SMC based on aid and attendance or housebound status was denied.
- Granted
The Veteran is entitled to an increased level of SMC based on the need for regular aid and attendance due to his service-connected disabilities, including renal insufficiency with nephrotic syndrome, left eye blindness, right below the knee amputation, anatomical loss of left foot status post above-the-knee amputation and loss of use of right hand, peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity, left upper extremity polyneuropathy (non-dominant), hypertension, erectile dysfunction, and diabetic retinopathy.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including a right leg amputation and degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine, affect his ability to move without assistance. As such, he meets the criteria for a special home adaptation grant.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a right below the knee amputation and muscle graft, latissimus dorsis, left back as these conditions are not attributable to service or secondary to service-connected scar, gunshot wound to the right lower leg with retained foreign body.
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