Knee Condition VA Claim Grants

Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)

1. The Veteran's left knee disability had its onset in or is otherwise related to his time in service. 2. The Veteran's hiatal hernia with reflux symptoms was manifested by persistently recurring epigastric distress with dysphagia, pyrosis, and regurgitation, accompanied by substernal or arm or shoulder pain, productive of considerable impairment of health, without more severe symptomatology of pain, vomiting, material weight loss and hematemesis or melena with moderate anemia, or other symptom combinations productive of severe impairment of health.

Reasons & Bases (verbatim from decision)

The Veteran served on active duty in the Marine Corps from November 2004 to November 2009. These matters come before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2018 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), also known as the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ). Service Connection Service connection may be granted for disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. The three-element test for service-connection requires evidence of: (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury. See Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166-67 (Fed. Cir. 2004). 1. Entitlement to service connection for a left knee condition is granted. The Veteran contends that he injured his left knee in service and continues to suffer from this condition to the present. See May 2020 VA Form 9. The Veteran was afforded a VA examination for his knee and lower leg conditions in November 2018, where the examiner diagnosed the Veteran with patellofemoral pain syndrome. This diagnosis is affirmed in the Veteran's VA treatment records.…

Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)

1. The Veteran was injured in a fall from a ladder when the service-connected right knee instability caused the right knee to give out. 2. Currently diagnosed back disabilities of residuals of a compression fracture of the L1 vertebra, and DDD and DJD of the lumbar spine, were caused by the fall from the ladder.

Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)

1. In June 2004, the Regional Office (RO) confirmed and continued denial of service connection for bilateral knee pain. The Veteran did not timely disagree or submit new and material evidence within one year. 2. Evidence received since June 2004 relates to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate the claim of entitlement to service connection for bilateral knee pain and raises a reasonable possibility of substantiating this claim. 3. The evidence is at least evenly balanced as to whether the Veteran's bilateral knee disability, diagnosed as residuals of a torn right knee meniscus and left knee degenerative arthritis, had its onset in service.

Reasons & Bases (verbatim from decision)

The Veteran had active-duty service in the United States Marine Corps from March 1991 to March 1995 and from April 1996 to May 2000. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from an appeal of a February 2017 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In that decision, the RO denied an application to reopen a previously denied claim for service connection for bilateral knee pain. The Board has recharacterized the claims being reopened in the decision below in light of the diagnoses relating to each knee in the evidence of record. Clemons v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 1, 4-5 (2009) (a claim should not be limited to the disorder as characterized by the Veteran, but must be characterized and addressed based on the reasonable expectations of the non-expert claimant and the evidence in processing the claim). Application to reopen claim of service connection for bilateral knee pain. In a June 2004 rating decision, the RO continued and confirmed declining to reopen the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral knee pain because the evidence failed to show an etiological association between the Veteran's in-service iliotibial band tendinitis (ITB) and the Veteran's current bilateral knee disorder.…

Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)

1. The evidence shows current diagnoses of bilateral knee strain and bilateral shin splints. 2. The Veteran sustained multiple minor injuries in service due to extensive physical training as a counterintelligence agent, including due to repeated weight bearing marches and running. 3. The bilateral knee strain and bilateral shin splints are etiologically related to repeated minor injuries sustained during physical training in service.

Reasons & Bases (verbatim from decision)

The Veteran, who is the Appellant, served on active duty from August 1994 to September 1996. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2018 rating decision from the Regional Office (RO). The Board finds that the duties to notify and assist in this case have been rendered moot by the grant of service connection for right and left knee strain and right and left shin splints, which is a full grant of the benefits sought on appeal. 1. Service Connection for Right Knee Strain 2. Service Connection for Left Knee Strain 3. Service Connection for Right Shin Splints 4. Service Connection for Left Shin Splints Under the relevant laws and regulations, service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). Generally, service connection for a disability requires evidence of: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service. The Veteran appeals for service connection for a bilateral knee disability and bilateral shin splints.…

Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)

1. The record does not show an actual improvement in the Veteran's right knee disability as it pertains to the ability to function under the ordinary conditions of life and work. 2. The record does not show an actual improvement in the Veteran's chronic bronchitis as it pertains to the ability to function under the ordinary conditions of life and work.

Reasons & Bases (verbatim from decision)

The Veteran served honorably on active duty in the United States Army from March 1985 to March 1988. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2017 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ). The Veteran testified at a Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in November 2021 and a transcript of that proceeding is of record. Reductions The provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 3.105(e) allow for a reduction in the evaluation of a service-connected disability when warranted by the evidence but only after following certain procedural guidelines. Where the reduction in evaluation of a service-connected disability or employability status is considered warranted and the lower evaluation would result in a reduction or discontinuance of compensation payments currently being made, a rating proposing the reduction or discontinuance will be prepared setting forth all material facts and reasons. The beneficiary will be notified at his or her latest address of record of the contemplated action and furnished detailed reasons therefor, and will be given 60 days for the presentation of additional evidence to show that compensation payments should be continued at their present level.…