The Board remanded the claim for a compensable rating for left knee surgical scars. The Veteran's private medical records need to be obtained.
The deciding factor: The VA did not secure all relevant private treatment records, constituting a duty to assist error.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee surgical scars
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 7, 2025
- Citation
- A25001412
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 275 · Granted: 33% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation A25001412.
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 Veteran's appeal for higher ratings for left knee conditions, MDD, and a left knee disability; service connection for bilateral plantar fasciitis, PN, lumbar strain, and right knee strain; and entitlement to TDIU was denied. The appeal is dismissed as untimely.
- Partly granted
The Board dismissed the appeal for service connection for left eye glaucoma and denied increased ratings for an acquired psychiatric disorder, left knee surgical scars. The claims for increased ratings for left knee degenerative arthritis and status post reconstructive surgery, as well as for bilateral hearing loss, were remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) on an extraschedular basis for referral to the Director of Compensation Service.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date for TDIU and SMC from September 1, 2017, but denied earlier effective dates for service connection of various conditions. It also granted a 10% rating for GERD starting July 5, 2016, and other ratings as detailed.
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