The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for bilateral knee patellofemoral syndrome with degenerative joint disease due to inadequate examinations conducted in September 2009, October 2011, July 2015 and August 2017. The Board found these examinations did not adequately address the functional loss caused by the Veteran's disabilities as required by DeLuca v. Brown, Sharp v. Shulkin, and Mitchell v. Shinseki.
The deciding factor: The Board determined that the previous VA examinations were inadequate for determining the Veteran’s claim due to their failure to adequately address the functional impairment of pain on use or during flare-ups.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee patellofemoral syndrome with degenerative joint disease, left knee patellofemoral syndrome with degenerative joint disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 19, 2019
- Citation
- 19195042
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,156 · Granted: 29% (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 19195042.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied earlier effective dates for the 30 percent and 10 percent disability evaluations for left knee patellofemoral syndrome with degenerative joint disease, and right lower extremity radiculopathy of the femoral nerve, as well as an earlier effective date for Dependents' Educational Assistance.
- Partly granted
The Board denied higher initial ratings for the service-connected right and left knee disabilities but granted a separate 10 percent rating for left knee instability effective July 19, 2023.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's left hip condition is not service-connected due to lack of a causal link, and an additional opinion is needed to address whether any aggravation by his service-connected conditions exists.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for bilateral knee disabilities have been denied as his conditions do not meet the criteria for higher evaluations under the applicable rating criteria.
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