The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for cervical spine, lumbar spine, and left knee disabilities due to outstanding VA treatment records that have not been associated with the claims file. The Veteran is required to provide names and addresses of any relevant medical providers and updated VA treatment records are needed.
The deciding factor: The Board found a duty to assist error occurred prior to the March 2019 rating decision on appeal for cervical spine, lumbar spine, and left knee disabilities due to outstanding VA treatment records that have not been associated with the claims file. The Veteran is required to provide names and addresses of any relevant medical providers and updated VA treatment records are needed.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical spine disability, lumbar spine disability, left knee disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 31, 2019
- Citation
- A19003936
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 705 · Granted: 38% (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 A19003936.
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 appeal is remanded for additional development, including a new VA examination to assess his bilateral knee and hip disabilities.
- Partly granted
The Board has not made a final determination on the claims of service connection for inguinal hernia, PTSD, joint pain, fibromyalgia, left knee disability, right knee disability, tinnitus, chronic fatigue syndrome, respiratory disability, sleep disorder, IBS, and headaches. The claims are remanded to obtain additional evidence and determine if these conditions are related to service.
- Denied
The Board denied the claims of service connection for cervical spine and skin rash disabilities, finding that there is no evidence linking these conditions to active military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient rationale in the July 2012 VA examination for the Veteran's left knee disability, and a new addendum opinion is needed.
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