The veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including a new VA orthopedic examination to assess the severity of her bilateral knee disabilities.
The deciding factor: The veteran has asserted that her knee disabilities have worsened since her last VA medical examination in 2002. The Board finds it necessary to ensure compliance with VCAA notification requirements and to obtain updated evidence regarding the current status of her knee conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- chondromalacia, left knee, chondromalacia, right knee
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 13, 2005
- Citation
- 0500978
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 684 · Granted: 25% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 0500978.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed all claims related to the Veteran's knee conditions and secondary service connection requests due to his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for left and right knee disabilities due to a duty to assist error. A new VA medical opinion is needed to determine if the Veteran's current knee disabilities are related to her military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for obesity and a rating greater than 10 percent for chondromalacia, left knee is denied. The case is remanded for further evaluation of the left knee disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for tinnitus has been granted. The claims for bilateral hearing loss, PTSD, and increased evaluations for chondromalacia of the left and right knees are remanded.
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