The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for right ankle sprain and left knee repairs due to inadequate VA examinations, lack of functional impairment testing, and need for new evidence.
The deciding factor: The examination reports did not include all required testing as per VA guidelines and regulations, specifically Correia v. McDonald (2016) and Sharp v. Shulkin (2017).
- Claimed conditions
- Right ankle sprain, Left knee anterior cruciate ligament, lateral collateral ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, and medial meniscus repairs
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19106818
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral tinnitus and an initial 70 percent rating, but not higher, for persistent depressive disorder with anxious distress. Other claims were denied or remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection, finding that his symptoms did not meet the criteria for higher disability ratings.
- Dismissed
The appeals for increased ratings of the Veteran's service-connected conditions were dismissed due to a procedural defect in the appeal process.
- Denied
The Board denied an initial rating in excess of 70 percent for PTSD and an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for a right ankle sprain.
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