The Board granted special monthly compensation (SMC) based on the loss of use of both hands and feet, as the evidence supports that the Veteran has lost effective function in his extremities to a degree that would be equally well-served by amputation with suitable prosthetic appliances.
The deciding factor: The August 2024 private examiner's opinion concluded that no effective function remains in the Veteran's hands and feet other than what would be served by an amputation stump with use of a suitable prosthetic appliance, consistent with the criteria for SMC based on loss of use of extremities.
- Claimed conditions
- Loss of use of both hands, Loss of use of both feet
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- March 13, 2025
- Citation
- A25023293
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,960 · Granted: 36% (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 A25023293.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for a higher level of SMC and SMC based on loss of use of the lower extremities due to duty-to-assist errors, lack of sufficient medical evidence, and inextricably intertwined issues.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted an effective date of June 26, 2015 for the award of service connection and SMC based on loss of use of both feet.
- Granted
The Veteran's SMC was granted at the intermediate level between 38 U.S.C. § 1114(m) and (n) due to additional disabilities including peripheral neuropathies, tinnitus, hearing loss, and lymphoma.
- Granted
The Board has granted effective dates of February 11, 2020 for service connection of loss of use of both hands and feet as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected Parkinson's disease.
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