The Board remands the claims for increased ratings for the Veteran's bilateral ankle and right knee disabilities to obtain a medical opinion that discounts any ameliorative effects of medication.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary under 38 C.F.R. § 20.802(a) to obtain an addendum opinion regarding the severity of the Veteran's connected ankles and right knee disabilities, specifically directing the examiner to consider the severity of the disabilities during the relevant period without consideration of the ameliorative effects of his medication.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle osteoarthritis, right ankle osteoarthritis, right knee osteoarthritis and tibia stress fracture and painful flexion, right knee osteoarthritis with decreased extension
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 14, 2025
- Citation
- A25043593
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an earlier effective date of September 27, 2023, for the award of service connection for left ankle osteoarthritis and remanded a claim for a higher disability evaluation.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for allergic rhinitis and remanded the other claims for further development.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities and basic eligibility for Dependents' Educational Assistance beginning November 19, 2015.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a headache disability and assigned ratings of 70 percent, 20 percent, and 10 percent for generalized anxiety disorder, right ankle osteoarthritis, and right gamekeepers thumb respectively. The claims for increased ratings for sinusitis, bilateral hearing loss, hypertension, and the remaining conditions were denied.
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