The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for bilateral knee disability, lower back disability, and esophageal cancer due to insufficient development. Additional medical opinions are needed regarding the etiology of these conditions.
The deciding factor: The VA needs additional evidence and expert opinion to determine if the Veteran's current disabilities are related to his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral knee disability, lower back disability, esophageal cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- October 14, 2020
- Citation
- 20066597
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,738 · Granted: 17% (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 20066597.
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: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that new and relevant evidence has been received to reconsider the Veteran's claims for service connection for left hip, left knee, right hip, and lower back disabilities. The claim for left hip disability is remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for left knee and lower back disabilities due to incomplete information about the Veteran's duty status during his periods of active service in the National Guard and Reserves.
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