The Board has remanded two issues: service connection for residuals of the left knee and service connection for arthritis of the right knee as secondary to residuals of the left knee. The decision is based on insufficient medical opinions regarding the preexisting nature of the Veteran's knee conditions.
The deciding factor: The medical opinion provided by the VA examiner did not sufficiently address whether there was clear and unmistakable evidence to rebut the presumption of aggravation for the Veteran’s left knee disability, nor did it consider the Veteran's assertions about his knee injuries during service and post-service pain reports.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of the left knee (arthritis), arthritis of the right knee
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2020
- Citation
- 20005109
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 20005109.
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 arthritis of the right and left knees, finding that it is at least as likely as not that these conditions developed due to the Veteran's active military service.,No new evidence or exposure basis was provided in this decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's right knee disability, including arthritis and patellofemoral syndrome. The examiner is asked to provide an opinion on whether these conditions are related to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for arthritis of the left knee and right knee to ensure compliance with a Joint Motion for Partial Remand from the Court.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including residuals of a head injury, bilateral hearing loss, neck disability, gout of the right ankle, unspecified trauma or stress related disorder, tinnitus, and other musculoskeletal issues.
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