The Veteran's appeal of compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for left knee, heart and skin disabilities is dismissed. Service connection for a left knee disability is granted.
The deciding factor: The only adequate medical opinion linking the current left knee disability to service was provided by Dr. D.A., who stated it is at least as likely as not related to an in-service left knee infection.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee osteoarthritis, status post left knee replacement
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19102805
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
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 claims for service connection, higher ratings, and earlier effective dates, as well as dismissed his claim for a TDIU.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for hypertension and remanded the claims for bilateral tinnitus, right knee osteoarthritis, and left knee osteoarthritis due to inadequate medical evidence.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted special monthly compensation (SMC) at the (r)(2) level due to his service-connected disabilities requiring a higher level of care.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral knee, bilateral shoulder, low back and bilateral hip disabilities based on the evidence showing that these conditions are related to the Veteran's active military service.
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