The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral knee conditions are not related to his military service and have denied his claims for service connection.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no direct link between the Veteran's current bilateral knee disabilities and his active duty military service, citing lack of contemporaneous medical evidence and negative separation examination results.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative joint disease of left knee, Degenerative joint disease of right knee
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 4, 2016
- Citation
- 1613551
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 1613551.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's right shoulder strain with impingement is granted a rating of 20 percent from December 11, 2012. Other service-connected conditions are denied increased ratings.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for left shoulder and bilateral knee disabilities due to missing records and inconsistencies in previous examinations.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for obstructive sleep apnea with fatigue, right knee arthritis, left hip arthritis, lumbosacral spine degenerative disc disease and cervical spine degenerative disc disease were granted. The effective dates for the right knee and left hip conditions are set at April 14, 2010, while those for the lumbosacral spine and cervical spine conditions are set at August 20, 2010.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation from February 25, 2008 to July 25, 2008.
Free starter guide for your own claim
Reading this because you were denied or under-rated? Get the plain-English next steps — your appeal options, the deadline that protects you, and how appeals like yours turn out. One email, no spam.
We will only use this to send the guide. No spam, unsubscribe any time. We never sell your information.
We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.
This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.