The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for bilateral knee chondromalacia patellae with osteoarthritis due to inadequate examination reports and the need to consider the ameliorative effects of medication.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on the need to obtain a retrospective opinion regarding the severity of the service-connected bilateral knee disabilities when discounting the ameliorative effects of any medication taken to treat the symptoms for the entire period on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee chondromalacia patella with osteoarthritis, left knee chondromalacia patella with osteoarthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 3, 2024
- Citation
- 24031473
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,614 · Granted: 35% (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 24031473.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for right and left knee chondromalacia patella with osteoarthritis, as the evidence did not support a rating in excess of 10 percent.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's service-connected right knee disabilities are being remanded for a new VA examination and to obtain all relevant treatment records, including those from the private sector where he underwent several surgeries.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for lumbosacral strain and for right shoulder, right knee, and left knee disabilities due to potential issues with the Veteran's death. The cases will be returned to the Board once it is confirmed whether the Veteran is deceased.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded several claims for additional development, including obtaining private treatment records and issuing a supplemental statement of the case (SSOC). The issues include ratings for various disabilities related to TBI, cervical spine, thoracolumbar spine, right shoulder, right knee, left carpal tunnel syndrome, right carpal tunnel syndrome, left thumb sprain, right thumb disability, left hip disability, right hip disability, eye disability, ulnar nerve paresthesias, ankle and wrist disabilities, nausea, constipation, and other conditions.
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