The Board remands the issue of entitlement to an initial rating higher than 30 percent for a left total knee arthroplasty due to a duty to assist error regarding outstanding private medical records.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary to correct an error on the part of the AOJ in failing to obtain relevant private treatment records prior to issuing the decision on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- left total knee arthroplasty
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 10, 2025
- Citation
- A25033334
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 915 · Granted: 38% (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 A25033334.
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 remanded the case due to issues being intertwined with other claims, and will be reconsidered once those claims are resolved.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for right knee status post total knee replacement, left total knee arthroplasty, left knee osteoarthritis, and right knee osteoarthritis due to a lack of evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board denied increased ratings for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy, but remanded claims for higher ratings of the knee arthroplasties, hip bursitis, lumbar spine disability, and TDIU.
- Denied
The appeal for an initial compensable rating for left total knee arthroplasty prior to April 8, 2019, and in excess of 30 percent from June 1, 2020, was denied.
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