The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for additional development due to outstanding private treatment records from Riverside Mathews Medical Center.
The deciding factor: The AOJ previously obtained treatment records but did not further investigate why the mail was returned, leading to an incomplete record.
- Claimed conditions
- Thoracic spine disorder, Right knee patellar instability, Left knee patellar instability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 13, 2024
- Citation
- 24032870
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 998 · Granted: 40% (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 24032870.
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 determined that additional evidence is needed to determine the severity of the Veteran's right knee conditions, specifically regarding the ameliorative effects of medications used for pain management. The case is being remanded to obtain a VA medical opinion addressing these issues.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial rating of 10 percent for right knee painful motion and a separate initial rating of 20 percent for right knee patellar instability, but denied an increased rating in excess of 50 percent for the acquired psychiatric disorder.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a bilateral hearing loss disability, a gastrointestinal disorder, obstructive sleep apnea, and a thoracic spine disorder. The effective date for increased evaluations and new grants of service connection were also denied.
- Partly granted
The Board denied an evaluation in excess of 10 percent for herpes genitalia and remanded the claims for service connection for a right shoulder disorder, cervical spine disorder, and thoracic spine disorder.
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