The Veteran's claimed disabilities of bilateral ankle, hip, and knee conditions are not service connected as they are not related to his active duty service or a service-connected disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no evidence that the Veteran sustained an injury or disease of the ankles, hips, or knees during service. The current diagnoses do not meet the criteria for chronic diseases under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a).
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral recurrent ankle sprain, ankylosing spondylitis affecting the ankles, bilateral hip osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis affecting the hips, bilateral recurrent knee strain, bilateral osteoarthritis of the knees, ankylosing spondylitis affecting the knees
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 16, 2015
- Citation
- 1552703
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 1552703.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hip osteoarthritis, finding that there was no direct evidence linking his current condition to his military service and concluding that any potential secondary relationship to his service-connected knee disability was not established.
- Partly granted
The Board denied higher ratings for left shoulder arthralgia and lumbar spine degenerative arthritis with DDD, granted service connection for right and left lower extremity radiculopathy as secondary to the lumbar spine disability, and remanded claims for increased ratings of other musculoskeletal conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied the claims for service connection for bilateral hip osteoarthritis and meralgia paresthetica, finding that there was no evidence to support a direct or secondary relationship between these conditions and the Veteran's active service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple musculoskeletal disabilities, including cervical spine degenerative disc disease and bilateral joint osteoarthritis, based on in-service exposure to PCBs.
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