The Veteran's service connection claims for left and right knee disorders are denied. Service connection for anxiety disorder is granted with a 50% rating effective the date of claim filing, but denied for higher ratings after August 6, 2019.
The deciding factor: Service connection was not established for the claimed knee conditions due to lack of evidence linking them to service. For anxiety disorder, the Veteran's symptoms were found to be consistent with a 50% rating based on his current manifestations but denied for higher ratings as they did not meet criteria for more severe disability levels.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee disorder, right knee disorder, anxiety disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 50%
- Decision date
- December 31, 2019
- Citation
- 19197095
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,341 · Granted: 33% (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 19197095.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to the need for additional development, including obtaining SSA records and providing proper notice regarding secondary service connection.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension and increased rating for anxiety disorder have been denied. The Board found that there is no evidence of a current disability meeting the criteria for hypertension, and the Veteran's anxiety disorder does not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for lumbosacral strain, asthma, melasma and hydradenitis, hypertension, an acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as depression, anxiety, and stress), left shoulder disorder, right shoulder disorder, left knee disorder, a left foot disorder, and IBS have been granted. The remaining issues are remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to errors in obtaining relevant medical records and authorization for private treatment providers. The issues include heart disorder, OSA, sinusitis, lumbar spine disorder, and right knee disorder all related to Agent Orange exposure.
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