The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection and increased rating for his right knee disability as secondary to service-connected disabilities and/or due to obesity, as well as his degenerative arthritis of the right foot. The Veteran will need a new VA examination to address whether his service-connected posttraumatic arthritis of the right ankle and/or degenerative arthritis of the right foot caused or aggravated his right knee disability and if not whether his osteoarthritis of the right knee was caused by these conditions with obesity as an intermediate step.
The deciding factor: The Board found that a new medical opinion is needed to address whether the Veteran's service-connected posttraumatic arthritis of the right ankle and/or degenerative arthritis of the right foot caused or aggravated his right knee disability, and if not whether his osteoarthritis of the right knee was caused by these conditions with obesity as an intermediate step.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee osteoarthritis, obesity
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 17, 2023
- Citation
- 23010387
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 23010387.
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.
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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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The Board has remanded several claims for further action, including effective date determinations and service connection determinations. The Veteran's service records from Portsmouth Naval Hospital are requested to be obtained.
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