The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient opinions regarding whether the Veteran's bilateral knee disability is aggravated by his service-connected lumbar spine disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner was incorrectly instructed and did not provide an opinion on aggravation of the Veteran's bilateral knee disability by his service-connected lumbar spine disability, which is required for secondary service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral 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 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20065996
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,044 · Granted: 21% (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 20065996.
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 bilateral shoulder disability and increased ratings for her bilateral knee disabilities, finding no evidence of in-service injury or disease related to these conditions.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for a neurological examination to determine if any diagnosed radiculopathy or other neurological disability affecting the lower extremities was caused or aggravated by service-connected conditions.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's service-connected knee disabilities were granted effective from January 2, 2022. The Board also remanded other issues including back and skin disorders.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has dismissed the issues of higher initial ratings for service-connected bilateral knee disability, migraine variants, and bilateral hearing loss as well as service connection for generalized anxiety disorder. The issues of service connection for right elbow lateral epicondylitis and left elbow lateral epicondylitis are remanded due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology. Service connection for depression is also remanded due to conflicting diagnoses.
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