The Board remands the claim for service connection for a right knee disability to obtain an adequate VA medical opinion regarding its etiology and whether it is secondary to the Veteran's service-connected left knee disability.
The deciding factor: Remand is required due to an inadequate June 2024 VA medical opinion that did not address the Veteran's lay statements or the question of aggravation, as well as a pre-decisional duty to assist error in not obtaining such an opinion prior to the AOJ decision on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 15, 2025
- Citation
- A25043980
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 a 30 percent rating for right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome, right knee instability, and separate 40 percent rating for right knee limitation of extension prior to July 27, 2019.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 40 percent rating for lumbosacral strain and denied or remanded the other issues on appeal.
- Dismissed
The veteran withdrew all pending appeals on April 28, 2025.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for additional development, specifically to obtain retrospective opinions regarding the severity of the Veteran's right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome during flareups.
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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.