The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection and increased rating for his right knee disorder and right ankle fracture due to inadequate opinions regarding aggravation of his preexisting conditions.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner failed to adequately address whether there is clear and unmistakable evidence to rebut the presumption of aggravation, leading to a remand for an addendum opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- Right knee joint osteoarthritis, Status post right ankle fracture
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19169193
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 19169193.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for degenerative disc disease, left knee joint osteoarthritis, and right knee joint osteoarthritis due to inadequate medical opinions in the May 2025 rating decision.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for cervical spine degenerative arthritis, right shoulder acromioclavicular and glenohumeral joint osteoarthritis, left shoulder acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis, and right knee joint osteoarthritis, as well as a separate 20% rating for erectile dysfunction. The Board denied an increased disability rating higher than 20 percent for diabetes mellitus type II but granted service connection for bilateral primary open-angle glaucoma secondary to the Veteran's service-connected diabetes.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a rating in excess of 10 percent for the Veteran's left long finger disability and remanded claims for service connection for left and right knee joint osteoarthritis.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder, left ear hearing loss, left hand frostbite, right hand frostbite, and knee joint osteoarthritis. The Veteran's appeal was also remanded for further development of the claims for a headache disorder and lumbar spine disorder.
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