The Board granted service connection for the Veteran's right and left knee disabilities, finding that they are secondary to his service-connected bilateral pes planus with right pes planovalgus deformity.
The deciding factor: The private medical opinions provided by the Veteran’s treating physicians supported the theory of aggravation, leading to an approximate balance of evidence in favor of granting service connection for the bilateral knee disabilities as a result of the service-connected condition.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee anterior cruciate ligament tear, osteoarthritis, and instability status post right knee meniscus surgery, left knee meniscal tear, anterior cruciate ligament tear, and osteoarthritis status post left knee ACL reconstruction and MCL repair
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 6, 2025
- Citation
- A25050038
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 service connection for multiple conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, right hip degenerative joint disease and rheumatoid arthritis with acetabular cyst status post right total hip replacement, osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, hypertension, prostate cancer, diabetes mellitus type II, fever sores, and a compromised immune system, as the evidence did not support a finding of service connection for any of these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for a right knee disability to obtain an addendum opinion addressing the Veteran's lay statements and explaining the etiology of her additional right knee injury.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeals for earlier effective dates related to various left and right hip, knee, shoulder, and other conditions as they were freestanding claims not continuously pursued from the initial rating decisions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions and denied increased ratings for several service-connected disabilities, as the evidence did not support a finding of current disability or aggravation related to service.
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