The Board remanded four issues regarding the Veteran's right knee conditions and total disability rating for individual unemployability, vacating the prior July 2024 denial decision following a Veterans Court order. The remand was necessary to obtain medical opinions addressing the ameliorative effects of the Veteran's medications on his right knee disabilities, as required under recent case law.
The deciding factor: The Board found that prior VA examinations failed to adequately address the ameliorative effects of medications (Percocet, NSAIDs, muscle relaxers, corticosteroid injections) on the Veteran's right knee symptoms as required under Ingram v. Collins and Jones v. Shinseki for musculoskeletal disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee chondromalacia with limitation of extension, lateral instability of the right knee, right knee disorder with limited flexion, recurrent subluxation of the right knee
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 12, 2025
- Citation
- 25013894
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,035 · Granted: 30% (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 25013894.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal regarding the rating reductions for lateral instability of the right knee and osteoarthritis of the right knee, so these issues are dismissed.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) due to service-connected disabilities, finding that his combined schedular ratings did not meet the threshold requirement for consideration of TDIU. The case was remanded multiple times and ultimately denied again.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issues for further development, including obtaining additional VA examinations and private treatment records.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a rating in excess of 10 percent for right knee limitation of flexion and a separate compensable rating for limitation of extension, but granted a 20 percent disability rating for lateral instability and a 10 percent disability rating for symptomatic removal of cartilage.
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