The Board remands the claims for a cervical strain and bilateral knee disabilities to correct pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors, including obtaining additional medical examinations.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary due to potential ameliorative effects of pain medications on range of motion and unobtained VA treatment records from community providers.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical strain, Patellofemoral pain syndrome, right knee, Patellofemoral pain syndrome, left knee
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 11, 2025
- Citation
- A25034075
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities, as the evidence did not show that his service-connected disabilities alone were of such nature and severity to preclude him from securing or following substantially gainful employment.
- Partly granted
The Board granted the restoration of a 20 percent rating for cervical strain from October 1, 2024, and denied compensable ratings for bilateral hearing loss, scars on both knees, upper extremity radiculopathies, and service connection for wrist disorders.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected left knee and right shoulder disabilities, along with compensation benefits awarded under 38 USC § 1151 for a right bicep detachment during shoulder surgery, prevented him from securing or following substantially gainful employment from December 22, 2011 to December 11, 2016.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and an initial compensable rating for hemorrhoids. However, the Veteran was granted a 50% rating prior to June 12, 2024, and a 100% rating from that date forward for his acquired psychiatric disability.
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