One of the more base healing conditions that military veterans seek to have service-connected is arthritis of the knees.
It should come as no surprise, then, that one of the most base errors that the Va makes is failing to properly rate arthritis of the knees.
Here is a normal summary of how you can double-check the Va's rating to make sure that they properly evaluated and rated your service-connected arthritis of the knee.
Before getting started, it is prominent to understand that, generally, the Va is not permitted to "pyramid" ratings. A "pyramid rating" happens when the Va rates the same disability under complicated - and sometimes dissimilar - diagnoses. Read the regulation at 38 C.F.R. § 4.14 to learn more about pyramid ratings.
Arthritis is different. If a military veteran is service-connected with arthritis of the knees, that Veteran might be entitled to up to 3 ratings for the same condition. They key word is "might" - what is prominent is that the Va rate and rate the unique way that arthritis manifests in your knees.
Here are three (3) factors that the Va should look at to see how to rate arthritis of the knees for any military veterans.
1) Functional Loss. Functional Loss is a limitation to the range of appeal of the knee. The Va Rater should focus on what the military veteran's healing records say about his/her potential to accomplish the normal working movements of the knee with "excursion, speed, strength, coordination and endurance". This aspect of arthritis of the knee is typically rated under the Diagnostic Codes 5000-5010 - (Diagnostic Codes and their criteria are found at 38 C.F.R. Part 4.)
2) Instability. Instability is the inability of the knee to play the "support" role it plays - an inability to keep you standing and balanced. If this limitation is present in your knee arthritis, the Va analyst should rate it using three (3) criteria under Diagnostic Code 5257:
a) minuscule (which equates to an additional 10% rating)
b) moderate (which equates to an additional 20% rating)
c) severe (which equates to an additional 30% rating)
3. Pain. The most base and recognizable manifestation of arthritis is pain. The Va typically does not consider pain in determining the permissible rating for a disease or condition. Arthritis is a minuscule different; even if there is no Functional Loss, the Va analyst can grant a rating for pain if there is evidence that the military veteran is impacted by pain when he or she uses the knee in normal, daily, repetitive use and/or when pain limits the Range of Motion.
Confused? Don't worry. The Va analyst probably is, too.
I have seen a lot of improper and bizarre ratings and evaluations of pain for service-connected arthritis of the knee.
In fact, I recently looked at a claim where the Va analyst rated arthritis as sciatica. Sciatica is a condition that relates to the nerves of the spinal cord; while pain may refer down the legs to the knees in sciatica, there was no determination for the condition in the C-File - the analyst naturally never figured out that arthritis and sciatica are two totally dissimilar conditions.
One caveat - the explanation above is simplified, and under the facts of your case, it may not be the right analysis. Ever case is different, every military veteran's healing situation is unique.
If you are a military veteran with service-connected arthritis of the knee, it is highly recommended that you bring your arthritis rating decision - and the code sheet - to an attorney or Vso representative that is familiar with the permissible way to rate arthritis.
If you don't know what the Va Code Sheet is, it is even more prominent that you get it in to have person delineate your rating to make sure you are getting all the recompense you are entitled to.
How Should the Va Rate a Veteran's Service-Connected Arthritis?
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