The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for left ankle disability, finding that his current left ankle arthritis was not incurred or aggravated in service and is not presumed service-connected. The Board also found no evidence of secondary service connection due to a service-connected low back disability causing or aggravating the left ankle disability.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the evidence did not support continuity of symptomatology from the 1971 sprain in service, and there was insufficient evidence linking the current left ankle arthritis to service. The Board also found no medical causation between the Veteran's service-connected low back disability and his left ankle disability.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19193061
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,677 · Granted: 26% (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 19193061.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The appeal of the proposed reduction in PTSD rating from 70% to 50%, and for service connection claims related to various joints and diabetes mellitus type II, has been dismissed due to procedural issues. The Veteran withdrew his appeals.
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- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for left ankle arthritis, left foot nerve damage and numbness, and right ankle sciatica nerve pain due to inadequate opinions in the February 2025 VA examination.
- Denied
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