The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for bilateral ankle, knee, and hip disabilities due to inadequate opinions in the September 2017 VA examination. The examiner failed to address whether the Veteran’s claimed disabilities are related to his conceded in-service fall from a helicopter while serving as a dog handler.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the September 2017 VA examiner's opinions were inadequate and did not adequately explain why the Veteran's claimed disabilities are less likely than not related to his in-service fall and more likely than not due to normal aging process.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle DJD (osteoarthritis), right ankle DJD (osteoarthritis), left knee DJD (osteoarthritis), right knee DJD (osteoarthritis), left hip DJD (osteoarthritis), right hip DJD (osteoarthritis)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- May 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20036518
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 20036518.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's left knee DJD and instability have been rated at 10% since May 20, 2014. The rating for the arthritis remains unchanged, but a separate 10% rating has been granted for instability.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's current left hip disability is not related to his service and denied his claim for service connection.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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