The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for low back and bilateral knee disabilities due to incomplete medical opinions. The Veteran's current knee conditions are established, but VA needs to provide additional opinions addressing their etiology.
The deciding factor: VA failed to obtain fully compliant medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's claimed knee disabilities and secondary service connection claims.
- Claimed conditions
- Low back disability, Right knee disability, Left knee disability
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- October 1, 2020
- Citation
- 20064244
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,104 · Granted: 28% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 20064244.
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
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a low back disability and an increased rating for his acquired psychiatric disorder. The Board found that there was no evidence linking the current disabilities to military service.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's service-connected low back disability alone does not prevent him from securing and following a substantially gainful occupation.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a low back disability and bilateral hip disability, finding that there was no evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased disability evaluation and effective dates are being remanded due to the need for a new VA examination to address the severity of his low back disability, including whether he has experienced incapacitating episodes of IVDS.
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