The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his right and left knee disabilities are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including a new examination.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the February 2017 VA examination report was inadequate for rating the Veteran’s left knee disability and right knee disability due to missing instability testing results and misdiagnosis of arthritis.
- Claimed conditions
- patella tendonitis and tricompartmental degenerative joint disease (DJD), status post right patella tendon repair with non-tender scar, patella tendonitis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 23, 2018
- Citation
- 18104676
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 18104676.
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 Veteran's claims for service connection and increased ratings are being remanded due to the complexity of the issues, including new psychiatric disorders and chronic pain conditions. The right knee patella tendonitis with degenerative arthritis is rated at 10 percent since June 30, 2021.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for patella tendonitis of the right knee and lumbosacral strain have been denied. The Veteran is currently receiving a 10% rating for patella tendonitis from May 12, 2012 to October 2, 2019, and a 30% rating thereafter. For lumbosacral strain, the Veteran is in receipt of a 20% initial disability rating since May 31, 2012.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim of service connection for a left knee disorder, finding that his current disability is etiologically related to his service-connected residuals of right knee infrapatellar ligament rupture and repair with degenerative arthritis. The decision resolves reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Granted
The Veteran's patella tendonitis with tricompartmental osteoarthritis and mild chondromalacia patella of the right knee is granted a separate 10 percent rating for patella tendonitis, but denied any higher ratings. The Veteran also received a noncompensable rating for limitation of extension.
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