The Board has denied service connection for left and right hip disabilities, as well as left and right knee disabilities. A rating of 70 percent was granted for major depressive disorder from June 1, 2019 to May 13, 2020.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not support the presence of current diagnoses for the hip and knee conditions or a link between service and these disabilities. For major depressive disorder, the symptoms were found to be consistent with a 70 percent rating but not higher due to lack of total occupational and social impairment.
- Claimed conditions
- Left Hip Disability, Right Hip Disability, Left Knee Disability, Right Knee Disability, Major Depressive Disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- January 10, 2024
- Citation
- 24001553
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,113 · Granted: 47% (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 24001553.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected knee disabilities are rated at 10% each, and the Board finds that higher ratings are not warranted based on the evidence of record.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral knee disabilities are not related to his active service, and thus denied both claims for service connection.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of a right knee disability, finding that there is no evidence to support an etiological relationship between his current condition and his military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's major depressive disorder is found to be caused by his service-connected low back and radiculopathy disabilities, which prevent him from doing enjoyable activities and daily living tasks.
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