The Veteran's claims for service connection for chronic right knee and low back disorders have been reopened, but the Board has determined that additional evidence is needed to determine if these conditions are related to his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner will be required to provide an opinion on whether any diagnosed disabilities of the right knee and/or low back had their initial onset in service or are otherwise related to active service, as well as whether they are caused by or aggravated by a service-connected disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Chronic Right Knee Disorder, Chronic Low Back Disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20004487
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,036 · Granted: 27% (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 20004487.
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 Veteran's claims for service connection and increased rating have been granted. Service connection is established for PFB, but not earlier than February 7, 2022. GERD remains rated at 10 percent. The other conditions remain denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issues of an initial compensable rating for PFB, service connection for a chronic low back disorder, service connection for degenerative joint disease of the left ankle, service connection for chronic cardiovascular disease, and service connection for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings of PTSD and service connection for OSA, chronic left knee disorder, and chronic right knee disorder have been denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a higher rating for PTSD or service connection for any of these conditions.
- Denied
The Board has reopened the service connection claims for an acquired psychiatric disorder, hypertension, and bilateral knee disorders due to new evidence received after a previous denial. However, the claims are denied as there is no evidence linking these conditions to active service.
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