The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for residuals of frostbite and left knee meniscus tear due to the unavailability of his service treatment records. The Veteran must undergo VA examinations to determine the nature and etiology of these conditions.
The deciding factor: The unavailability of service treatment records prevents a determination on the merits of the claims, necessitating further development through VA examinations.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of frostbite, left knee meniscus tear
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19181812
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,037 · Granted: 21% (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 19181812.
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 Board has dismissed the issues of service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus due to a full grant of benefits in prior decisions. Service connection is granted for left knee meniscus tear.
- Remanded (sent back)
The claim of an initial rating higher than 20 percent for left knee meniscus tear is being remanded due to incomplete medical reports and the need for updated VA treatment records, including non-VA community care consultations.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for sleep apnea and dismissed the claim for tinnitus as moot, while denying increased ratings for lower extremity radiculopathy and remanding several back and limb conditions for further evaluation.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for a lumbar strain and left knee meniscus tear, both as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected right knee disability.
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