The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral patellar chondromalacia was granted, with the Board finding that his current condition is not related to service. The Veteran had a preexisting knee disability but it did not worsen during service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no evidence of an in-service injury or aggravation and noted a significant gap between the onset of symptoms and any post-service treatment, leading to the conclusion that the current condition is less likely related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee chondromalacia patella, right knee chondromalacia patella
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 7, 2020
- Citation
- 20001206
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,062 · Granted: 34% (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 20001206.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
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 claim for special monthly compensation (SMC) based on statutory housebound status due to her service-connected conditions and additional nonservice-connected disabilities, finding that she did not meet the criteria for SMC.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal has been dismissed as her eligibility for VA health care benefits and enrollment in a Priority Group higher than Priority Group 8 has already been granted due to the combined disability rating of 50 percent.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for increased ratings for right knee chondromalacia patella and anterior cruciate ligament strain due to an improper concurrent election of review options.
- Denied
The Veteran's left knee chondromalacia patella is rated at 10 percent, which does not meet the criteria for a higher rating. The Board found that the condition did not warrant a compensable rating under Diagnostic Codes 5260 and 5261, as his range of motion was within normal limits with some pain but no instability.
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