Saunders v. Wilkie

Melba Saunders (plaintiff) served in the Army on active duty from 1987 to 1994. In 1994, Saunders was diagnosed with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) related to knee pain, and Saunders’s exit examination reported a history of a swollen knee. In 2008, Saunders filed a service-connected disability claim based on her knees, but the Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) (defendant) denied Saunders’s claim based on a lack of current medical evidence. Saunders filed a Notice of Disagreement and stated that Saunders still had knee pain and swelling related to the 1994 diagnosis. In 2011, a VA examiner diagnosed Saunders with bilateral knee pain as likely not caused by military service. The examiner determined that the knee pain caused Saunders to have limitations on walking and standing for more than a few minutes and sometimes need to use a cane. Saunders appealed her denied claim to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (the board) on the grounds that the knee pain had been linked to Saunders’s service. The board denied Saunders’s claim, stating that “pain” was insufficient pathology for a diagnosis and insufficient evidence that Saunders’s condition was related to active service. The board further concluded that Saunders failed to show the presence of a disability. Saunders appealed to the Veterans Court, which affirmed the board’s decision. Saunders appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on the grounds that Saunders’s knee pain constituted a present disability.