The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for higher evaluations for his bilateral knee disabilities due to missing imaging reports and a need for a new VA examination. The examinations are needed to confirm the Veteran's reports of having undergone total knee replacement arthroplasty surgeries on both knees, test range-of-motion findings, and assess any functional limitations.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there were missing imaging reports and a need for a new VA examination due to previous examinations not complying with Correia v. McDonald requirements.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee chondromalacia, left knee chondromalacia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 15, 2019
- Citation
- 19162880
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 19162880.
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 his appeal for higher ratings of his left and right knee conditions, and the Board has no jurisdiction to review these issues.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for a higher initial rating for left knee limitation of extension and an increased rating for left knee chondromalacia.
- Dismissed
The proposed reductions of the veteran's right and left knee chondromalacia ratings were dismissed as there was no final rating action taken, and the disabilities remained rated at 40 percent during the applicable period.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for sleep disorder is dismissed, and the Veteran's claims for service connection for alcohol use disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, somatic symptom disorder, bilateral hearing loss, and lower back strain are denied. The Board granted a 70 percent rating for PTSD.
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