The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral shoulder, hip, and ankle disabilities as secondary to his service-connected knee disabilities due to insufficient opinions regarding aggravation.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not address whether the Veteran’s bilateral shoulder, hip, and ankle disabilities were aggravated by his service-connected knee disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- left shoulder degenerative joint disease, right shoulder degenerative joint disease, left hip degenerative joint disease, right hip degenerative joint disease, left ankle degenerative joint disease, right ankle degenerative joint disease
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19124438
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 trigeminal nerve neuralgia due to the Veteran's service-connected frostbite of the ears, and increased the rating for right ankle degenerative joint disease from 10 percent to 20 percent. The claims for an increased rating for right ear frostbite and a separate rating for left ear frostbite residuals were denied.
- Partly granted
The Board denied higher ratings for tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss, granted a 30% rating for hyperacusis from January 31, 2008, and granted SMC based on the need for aid and attendance.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion to address the ameliorative effects of medication on the Veteran's left ankle disability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted revision of the April 2007 rating decision on the basis of clear and unmistakable error (CUE) for right shoulder degenerative joint disease, assigning a 10 percent rating effective January 1, 2007. Other claims were denied.
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