The Board remands the claims for service connection for left knee, low back, left hip, right hip, and acquired psychiatric disorders to obtain a new VA examination and opinion.
The deciding factor: The current examinations are found inadequate as they did not properly consider the Veteran's lay reports of ongoing symptoms or provide sufficient rationale for their conclusions.
- Claimed conditions
- Left knee disorder, Low back disorder, Left hip disorder, Right hip disorder, Acquired psychiatric disorder, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 1, 2025
- Citation
- A25039984
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 claims for annual clothing allowances for a left knee sleeve, A&D ointment, hydrocortisone cream, and incontinence briefs due to lack of service connection or evidence that these items cause irreparable damage to outer garments.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, finding a causal relationship between the condition and an in-service incident of military sexual trauma (MST).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 29, 2019 for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder but denied earlier effective dates and increased ratings for other conditions.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.