The Veteran's right ankle disability is rated at the maximum schedular rating of 20 percent, and his service-connected disabilities do not preclude him from securing or maintaining substantially gainful employment.
The deciding factor: The evidence does not show that the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities prevent him from obtaining or maintaining substantially gainful employment due to physical limitations related to his ankle, back, knee, and other conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- post-traumatic arthritis, right fibula fracture, lumbar spine degenerative joint disease and spinal stenosis, migraine headaches, cervical strain, right knee degenerative joint disease, left knee degenerative joint disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- March 1, 2021
- Citation
- 21011170
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 21011170.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for additional development due to incomplete medical records and insufficient opinions regarding the relationship between service, including a stick injury in England, and current left eye disability (including amblyopia and cataracts) as well as migraine headaches.
- Granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches are productive of very frequent, completely prostrating and prolonged attacks capable of producing severe economic inadaptability. The Board has granted a 50 percent disability rating for the Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for his service-connected migraine headaches was granted with an effective date of February 28, 2023.
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