The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's right knee disorders.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not provide an adequate opinion on whether the claimed conditions clearly and unmistakably preexisted service or were related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- osteochondral defect, probable grade III to grade IV injury of the median ridge of the right patella, atherosclerotic calcifications with popliteal artery aneurysm
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 6, 2020
- Citation
- 20000507
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 961 · Granted: 20% (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 20000507.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's right knee disability, diagnosed as osteochondral defect, status post repair. The decision affirms that this condition was present during service and continues to exist today.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for increased ratings of his right knee disabilities due to insufficient examination reports and failure to address prior remand directives.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for increased ratings for his right knee disability was denied. The Veteran is currently rated at 10 percent for patellofemoral pain syndrome, osteochondral defect and degenerative joint disease, effective March 29, 2019. His rating for lateral instability was reduced to non-compensable after January 13, 2021.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of specific range of motion measurements for the Veteran's right knee, and another examination is needed to properly evaluate his service-connected conditions.
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