The Veteran's left knee disability is service-connected, and he is currently rated at 20% for his degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine. The PTSD claim was denied as there is no evidence it is related to service.
The deciding factor: Service treatment records show multiple injuries to the left knee during service, with a medical evaluation board indicating chronic pain secondary to an injury in service. There is no credible evidence linking the current left knee condition to service. For PTSD, the Veteran's stressor was not verified and there is no other evidence of a nexus between his current symptoms and service.
- Claimed conditions
- Left Knee Sprain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- June 29, 2009
- Citation
- 0924288
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 0924288.
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's left knee sprain with instability is granted a 30 percent rating, effective from December 17, 2007, to the present. From February 24, 2015, entitlement for left knee osteoarthritis is granted a separate 20 percent rating.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for increased evaluations of right and left knee sprain prior to September 14, 2015 due to an inadequate May 2013 VA examination report. The examiner did not provide a retrospective opinion on the functional limitation of the Veteran's knees during flare-ups.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to insufficient evidence in the record, including missing service treatment records. The Veteran's conditions are being reviewed again with additional medical opinions based on all available information.
- Granted
The Veteran's knee and tibia disabilities were granted ratings, while his PTSD was granted an initial 70% rating. SMP benefits were dismissed.
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