The Board remanded all claims for service connection and rating increase due to duty to assist errors. The Veteran's private medical records and adequate VA examinations are needed.
The deciding factor: The Board found pre-decisional duty to assist errors because the RO did not obtain relevant private medical records and relied on inadequate VA examinations.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee pain status post lateral meniscus tear, left ankle pain, left hip pain, left leg muscle fatigue, right leg muscle fatigue, right knee pain, right ankle pain, upper back and neck pain, lower back pain, migraines
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 13, 2025
- Citation
- A25002625
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 910 · Granted: 31% (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 A25002625.
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 Veteran's claim for service connection for migraines was reopened due to new evidence. Service connection is granted for painful scars, but the rating assigned remains at 10 percent. The claims for fibromyalgia and bilateral shoulder disability are denied.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Dismissed
The appeal concerning the service connection claims for various conditions and initial compensable evaluations for service-connected erectile dysfunction and bilateral hearing loss is dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Granted
The Board has granted a 50 percent disability rating for the Veteran's migraines, effective April 30, 2026. The decision found that the Veteran's migraine headaches caused characteristic very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability.
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