The Board has remanded the issues of service connection for right knee strain, left knee strain, lumbosacral strain, and left hip strain due to duty-to-assist errors. The Veteran's claims are being remanded to obtain adequate medical opinions regarding whether his lumbar spine, bilateral knee, and left hip disabilities are caused or aggravated by his service-connected pes planus and bilateral ankle disabilities.
The deciding factor: The Board found the previous VA examination opinions inadequate as they only addressed causation from a secondary service connection basis. The remand requires obtaining adequate medical opinions with complete rationale regarding both causation and aggravation of the Veteran's lumbar spine, bilateral knee, and left hip disabilities by his service-connected pes planus and bilateral ankle disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- neck, right knee, left knee, lumbosacral spine, left hip
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 24, 2024
- Citation
- A24059936
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 A24059936.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's TDIU was granted effective April 8, 2020. The Board found that VA failed to properly notify the Veteran of his intent to file a claim and thus the earlier date is valid.
- Denied
The Veteran's service connection claims for left ankle, right ankle, right hand, and left hand conditions are denied.,The Veteran's service connection claim for right hip condition is denied.,The Veteran's service connection claim for left hip condition is denied.,The Veteran's service connection claim for left wrist condition is denied.,The Veteran's service connection claim for right wrist condition is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's claims for service connection regarding his left knee, right knee condition, and coronary artery disease require further examination and medical opinion due to a lack of a VA examination in connection with these claims.
- Granted
The Veteran's left ankle disability is granted service connection, and he receives a 10% rating for his right and left knee disabilities based on limitation of motion. Separate 20% ratings are assigned for instability in both knees.
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