The veteran's claims for service connection and increased evaluation are being remanded due to the need for additional medical examinations to determine if his right knee and back disabilities were caused or aggravated by his service-connected left knee disability.
The deciding factor: Additional medical examination is needed to assess whether the veteran's right knee and lumbar spine disabilities are related to his service-connected left knee disability.
- Claimed conditions
- degenerative joint disease of the right knee, degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 13, 2004
- Citation
- 0404317
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0404317.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for increased ratings of bilateral knee and ankle disabilities due to incomplete VA examinations.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple disabilities, including various musculoskeletal conditions and mental health disorders.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for somatic symptom disorder, left knee osteoarthritis, and headaches. The Veteran was also granted increased ratings of 20 percent for degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine and 40 percent for status post ligament damage and acromioclavicular repair of the right shoulder with acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis and acromioclavicular joint degenerative joint disease.
- Denied
The Board denied an initial evaluation more than 10 percent for the Veteran's service-connected degenerative joint disease of the right knee, as the evidence did not support a higher rating based on limitation of flexion or extension.
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