The Veteran's left little finger disability is characterized by numbness, stiffness, and pain. However, there is no ankylosis or equivalent to amputation, so a compensable rating cannot be granted.
The deciding factor: There is no evidence of ankylosis in the left little finger which would warrant a separate rating under DC 5227.
- Claimed conditions
- left little finger disability, numbness, stiffness, pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 9, 2019
- Citation
- 19127360
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 439 · 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 19127360.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's disability of numbness, tingling, and pain in the left lower extremity is granted as service connected.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for chronic dry eye, chronic fatigue syndrome, constipation, IBS, left little finger disability, left index finger disability, left thumb disability, left ring finger disability, left long finger disability, right ring finger disability, right index finger disability, right long finger disability, and right thumb disability due to an error in the initial decision. The Veteran was not provided with notice of her right to a hearing on these issues.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issues of entitlement to service connection for tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The Veteran's claims will be reconsidered with an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD has been withdrawn by the appellant.,Service connection for pain secondary to a service-connected condition is denied. The Veteran does not have a current disability of pain that is related to service or a service-connected condition he is not currently compensated for.
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