The Board remands the claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and major depressive disorder with anxious distress, as well as left knee strain status post arthroscopic surgery, right knee strain status post arthroscopic surgery, and lumbosacral strain with IVDS, to include as secondary to service-connected bilateral hip disabilities, due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
The deciding factor: The claims are remanded because the Board must make additional attempts to corroborate the Veteran's reported in-service stressors for PTSD and address the theories of entitlement regarding the knee and back disabilities as secondary to the service-connected hip disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and major depressive disorder with anxious distress, Left knee strain status post arthroscopic surgery, Lumbosacral strain with intervertebral disc syndrome (IVDS), Right knee strain status post arthroscopic surgery
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 31, 2025
- Citation
- A25029445
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,240 · Granted: 28% (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 A25029445.
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 Board granted service connection for diabetes mellitus type II and lumbosacral strain with intervertebral disc syndrome on a secondary basis.
- Granted
The rating reduction for service-connected left lower extremity (LLE) radiculopathy from 20 percent to noncompensable was improper, and the appeal to restore the 20 percent rating is granted.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for lumbosacral strain with IVDS and sciatic radicular pain and paresthesia of both legs as secondary to the lumbosacral strain, but remanded the claim for left shoulder pain.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial disability rating of 40 percent for lumbosacral strain with intervertebral disc syndrome and earlier effective dates for several service-connected conditions, but denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
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