The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral knee and left hip disabilities, as well as his claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 20 percent for lumbosacral strain. The Veteran asserts that these conditions are related to combat injuries sustained while serving in Afghanistan.
The deciding factor: The Board found the current evidence insufficient to determine whether the Veteran's bilateral knee and left hip disabilities are service-connected, as they may be due to his service-connected back disability or other factors.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Knee Disability, Left Hip Disability
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19117788
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,772 · Granted: 37% (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 19117788.
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.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for the claimed conditions as there is no persuasive evidence of current diagnoses or in-service incurrence or aggravation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's claims for service connection for PTSD and bilateral knee disability must be remanded due to duty-to-assist errors. The Veteran's reported stressors need to be verified, and a VA examination is required to address the etiology of his bilateral knee condition.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for both a right hip disability and a left hip disability, finding that the Veteran's observable symptoms of pain and stiffness began during his active service and have persisted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's generalized anxiety disorder is granted a 70% rating. The left hip disability claim is remanded due to insufficient medical opinion regarding causation and aggravation.
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