The Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for service-connected left knee degenerative joint disease from May 1, 2025 is being remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
The deciding factor: Duty-to-assist errors occurred prior to the April 2025 rating decision on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee degenerative joint disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2026
- Citation
- A26005342
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 A26005342.
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 Veteran's appeal is remanded due to the need for a VA examination to assess the severity of his left knee disability, including without considering the ameliorative effects of medication.
- Denied
The Veteran's left knee disability was not shown to be related to service or any service-connected conditions, and the Board denied his claim for service connection.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals were withdrawn, and his claims for increased ratings and service connection were dismissed. The Board found no evidence of ankylosis or other disabling conditions that would warrant higher ratings.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected right and left knee degenerative joint disease with painful motion due to a lack of consideration of the ameliorative effects of medication use, specifically Gel-One knee injections and Motrin/ibuprofen.
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