The Board remands the service connection claims for left knee osteoarthritis, right knee meniscal tear with osteoarthritis, and varicose veins of both lower extremities due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
The deciding factor: The July 2022 VA medical opinions were found inadequate as they did not address the Veteran's lay statements regarding the onset and progression of his conditions. Additionally, there may be outstanding relevant private treatment records that need to be obtained.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee osteoarthritis, right knee meniscal tear with osteoarthritis, varicose veins, left lower extremity, varicose veins, right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 14, 2025
- Citation
- A25088042
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,820 · Granted: 26% (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 A25088042.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the VA examinations provided for the Veteran's knee and palatal tympanic myocronus claims were inadequate, and thus these cases must be remanded to obtain new evaluations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, but has remanded the cases of left knee and lumbar spine disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims of service connection for left and right knee disabilities are being remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions regarding the relationship between his service-connected right ankle degenerative arthritis and his current knee conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran was eligible for beneficiary travel benefits to attend a VA medical appointment on March 16, 2021 due to his service-connected conditions. The Board found that the nearest available clinic provided the required care and that the Veteran's statements were credible and consistent with the evidence.
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