The Board has determined that the Veteran's left knee, left elbow, and skin conditions require additional examinations to determine their current severity. The appeal is being remanded for these purposes.
The deciding factor: The VA joints and skin examinations provided in January 2014 were not adequate as they did not include testing for pain on both active and passive motion and in weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing, nor did they note the Veteran's flare-ups of left knee and elbow pain and their functional impact.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee patellar tendonitis, left elbow olecranon epicondylitis with painful limitation of flexion of the forearm, left elbow impairment of supination and pronation, tinea corporis with urticaria
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 16, 2019
- Citation
- 19154782
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 19154782.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's bilateral knee and wrist disabilities were initially granted service connection with noncompensable ratings effective April 29, 2016. The Board has granted earlier effective dates of April 29, 2016 for the 10 percent ratings assigned for each disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the VA opinions are inadequate and remands the case for a new examination to clarify the current diagnosis of the Veteran's left knee disability, assess whether it would be less severe without service-connected PTSD, and determine if obesity is aggravated by PTSD.
- Denied
The Veteran's initial and increased evaluations for knee conditions, including patellar tendonitis, MCL sprain and meniscal tear, and meniscal tear, were denied. Separate evaluations for right and left knee instability were granted.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for multiple conditions and denied higher initial ratings for several service-connected disabilities.
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