The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his right knee and low back disabilities, as well as his claim for service connection for sleep apnea. The claims are being returned to the RO for further development.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations did not sufficiently comply with the Court’s holding in Sharp v. Shulkin, 29 Vet. App. 26 (2017), and the June 2020 Board Remand directives regarding functional loss during flare-ups and limitations of motion.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee chondromalacia status post arthroscopy with synovectomy, chondroplasty, partial medial meniscectomy, plica excision with osteochondral defect, and calcific tendonitis of suprapatellar tendon and degenerative arthritis, lumbosacral strain with degenerative changes
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 12, 2020
- Citation
- 20072708
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,350 · Granted: 26% (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 20072708.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for a rating in excess of 20 percent for his left knee disability is dismissed.,Service connection has been granted for lumbosacral strain with degenerative changes and bilateral hip acetabular tears, which are found to be proximately due to his service-connected left knee disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issues of entitlement to increased ratings for lumbosacral strain with degenerative changes, right lower extremity radiculopathy, and left lower extremity radiculopathy due to insufficient evidence.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 20 percent for lumbosacral strain with degenerative changes, as the evidence did not support a higher disability rating.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for higher initial disability ratings for various conditions are being remanded due to the need to obtain outstanding treatment records from TRICARE.
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