The Veteran's spine and knee disabilities have not been evaluated since December 2015. The Board has ordered remand to obtain updated VA examinations for the spine and left knee, as well as any additional private care records.
The deciding factor: The last evaluations were conducted over five years ago, and the Veteran reports worsening symptoms of both conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- spondylolisthesis of the thoracolumbar spine, retropatellar pain syndrome of the left knee
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 24, 2019
- Citation
- 19180919
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 880 · 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 19180919.
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 Veteran's claims for higher ratings for retropatellar pain syndrome of the right and left knees due to inadequate examination reports that did not account for the ameliorative effects of medication.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for spondylolisthesis of the thoracolumbar spine, retropatellar pain syndrome of the left knee, and lower left extremity radiculopathy due to inadequate examination reports. The issues are now returned to the Board for further review.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) as there was no evidence showing she was unable to secure or maintain substantially gainful employment due to her service-connected disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss has been reopened, and the case is remanded to determine if he meets VA criteria for a hearing loss disability. The left knee disability rating is also remanded due to an inadequate April 2018 VA examination.
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