Board decisionsVA Case Search

Board of Veterans' Appeals · Legacy series

Entitlement to service connection for left knee disability is denied.

January 30, 2026Citation Nr. 26001395Docket 15-26 265va.gov source

  • Left knee disabilityDenied
  • Right knee disabilityDenied
  • Thoracolumbar spine disabilityDenied
  • Left foot disabilityDenied
  • Right foot disabilityDenied

Board reasoning

The Board denies all listed service-connection claims. It finds no credible in-service evidence of knee, back, or feet injuries, and the medical opinions of record uniformly conclude that current disabilities are less likely than not related to service. The Veteran’s lay statements about in-service injuries and post-service symptoms are not credible and are given no weight; the Board relies on the contemporaneous STRs and post-service medical opinions to support the denials.

Issues

  • Left knee disabilityDenied
  • Right knee disabilityDenied
  • Thoracolumbar spine disabilityDenied
  • Left foot disabilityDenied
  • Right foot disabilityDenied

Authorities

  • Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268cited regarding remand and credibility standards
  • Lynch v. McDonough, 21 F.4th 781-82addressed when applying benefit-of-the-doubt where evidence persuades against the claim

Extracted with gpt-5-nano-2025-08-07. Citations are kept only when they appear in the decision text.