The Board has determined that the VA examinations for the Veteran's knee and foot disabilities were inadequate, as they did not consider the Veteran’s in-service treatment records. The Board also found that no VA examination was provided for the Veteran's hand disabilities. Therefore, the case is being remanded to obtain new VA examinations.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations failed to provide adequate rationale or discussion of the evidence associated with the record, including service treatment records and the Veteran’s in-service complaints and treatments.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee patellar femoral syndrome, right knee patellar femoral syndrome, left foot metatarsalgia/plantar fascial fibromatosis (claimed as residual cold injury), right foot metatarsalgia/plantar fascial fibromatosis (claimed as residual cold injury), left hand disability, to include residuals of a cold injury (claimed as peripheral neuropathy), right hand disability, to include residuals of a cold injury (claimed as peripheral neuropathy)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19135072
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,549 · Granted: 26% (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 19135072.
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.
- Dismissed
The veteran withdrew the appeal for service connection for left knee patellar femoral syndrome, right knee patellar femoral syndrome, low back strain, and right hip bursitis.
- Granted
The Veteran's left knee instability is now rated at 20 percent, reflecting moderate instability. The patellar femoral syndrome remains at a 10 percent rating due to painful motion.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including depression (claimed as PTSD), left knee patellar femoral syndrome, and left ankle tenosynovitis, were denied earlier effective dates.,Claims for service connection for lumbar strain and tinnitus were also denied.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for hemorrhoids and remanded the issue of rating in excess of 10 percent for right knee patellar femoral syndrome.
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