The Board remands the service-connection claims for a back disability, left knee disability, and right shoulder disability to correct pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors.

The deciding factor: The VA opinions provided are inadequate as they solely rely on the absence of medical evidence, which is not sufficient to support a negative opinion. The examiner also failed to address or discuss the Veteran's lay statements attributing his conditions to in-service incidents.

Claimed conditions

back disability, diagnosed as lumbosacral strain, left knee disability, diagnosed as left knee strain, right shoulder disability, diagnosed as right shoulder impingement syndrome and rotator cuff tear

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

None in this decision

Decision date

November 25, 2025

Citation

A25102221

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