The appeal seeking to reopen a claim of service connection for right knee injury is granted. The VA has been ordered to obtain the Veteran's complete updated records of VA treatment and authorize VA to obtain clinical records from private providers who have evaluated or treated him for cardiovascular disability and right knee disability, including those pertaining to his 2007 right partial knee replacement and subsequent recovery.
The deciding factor: The evidence received since the September 2015 rating decision includes lay statements that support the Veteran's claim of a right knee injury during service. The new evidence raises a reasonable possibility of substantiating such a claim, as it relates to unestablished facts necessary to substantiate the claim of service connection for a right knee injury.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Knee Injury, Arthritis
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 12, 2021
- Citation
- 21042131
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 21042131.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The September 2006 rating decision denied service connection for a fractured femur and granted service connection for a right knee injury, attributing the latter to permanent aggravation of an existing condition during service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an initial compensable evaluation for bilateral hearing loss is denied.,The Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for right knee injury is remanded due to a duty to assist error.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a duty-to-assist error in previous examinations, requiring additional information on right shoulder ROM measurements without medication effects.
- Granted
The Veteran's disability ratings for low back disability and right lower extremity radiculopathy have been reduced from 40% and 10%, respectively, to 20% and 0%. The reduction was based on improvements shown in recent VA examinations.
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