The Board has determined that there is no evidence to support the Veteran's claims of right and left ankle disorders being related to service. The Veteran's current ankle disabilities are attributed to post-service injuries, not her in-service injury.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found it less likely than not that any current disability was related to service due to lack of clinical documentation for verification and the absence of any mention of an ankle condition at separation from service.
- Claimed conditions
- Right ankle disorder, Left ankle disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 23, 2020
- Citation
- 20028509
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 20028509.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's right ankle disorder, finding that it was not shown to be related to his active duty service and did not meet the criteria for secondary service connection due to his left ankle disability.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a right ankle disorder and a lung disorder, finding that the conditions are related to active-duty service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of a right ankle disorder, finding that there was no evidence linking his current condition to his military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, left ankle disorder, and right ankle fracture are all granted service connection. The right ankle fracture is remanded for a higher disability rating.
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