The Veteran's residuals of a left knee meniscal tear result in pain, minor limitation of motion, arthritis, and little to no instability. Recent findings of left-sided weakness are clearly attributable to multiple cerebrovascular accidents (strokes) from 2004 and 2005, which are unrelated to the Veteran's left knee meniscal tear, and may not be considered in evaluating the Veteran's service-connected left knee disability.
The deciding factor: The evidence does not support a finding of severe instability or significant limitation of motion sufficient for an evaluation higher than the currently assigned 20 percent for moderate instability and the separate 10 percent for painful limited motion with arthritis.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of a postoperative left knee meniscal tear, left knee arthritis with limitation of motion
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 25, 2009
- Citation
- 0911019
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,514 · 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 0911019.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and TDIU were denied. The Board found that the preponderance of the evidence did not support higher evaluations for his left knee disability, arthritis with limitation of motion, or hemorrhoids. The Veteran was granted TDIU due to his service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including schizophrenia, left knee injuries, and back strain, did not prevent him from securing or following substantially gainful employment prior to October 1, 1999.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for left knee arthritis with limitation of motion is granted, while the claims for service connection and reopening are also granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for an effective date prior to January 23, 1998 for the award of a TDIU rating was granted. The Board found that the Veteran was unemployable due to his service-connected disabilities prior to this date.
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