The Board has remanded the case for additional development, specifically obtaining an addendum opinion to determine the etiology of the Veteran's left knee disability and whether his service-connected right knee disorders caused him to become obese or increased the severity of his obesity.
The deciding factor: The Board found that substantial compliance with prior remand directives was not achieved due to incomplete development and lack of substantial compliance, necessitating another remand for corrective action.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee disorder, obesity
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 5, 2021
- Citation
- 21061950
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 21061950.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to the need for additional development, including obtaining SSA records and providing proper notice regarding secondary service connection.
- Granted
The Veteran's diabetes mellitus, type II, is granted on a secondary basis with obesity serving as an intermediate step due to service-connected low back disability, sciatica, and right shoulder disabilities.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for lumbosacral strain, asthma, melasma and hydradenitis, hypertension, an acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as depression, anxiety, and stress), left shoulder disorder, right shoulder disorder, left knee disorder, a left foot disorder, and IBS have been granted. The remaining issues are remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The DIC claim is denied because the Veteran was not rated totally disabled for a continuous period of at least 10 years immediately preceding his death. The service connection issue is remanded due to duty to assist error.
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