The veteran claims service connection for a gait disorder with upper motor neuron signs and/or bilateral white matter ischemic changes, allegedly caused by exposure to ionizing radiation during military service. The Board has ordered further development including obtaining medical records and verifying in-service exposure.
The deciding factor: Further verification of the veteran's in-service exposure to ionizing radiation is needed before a determination can be made on his claim for service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- gait disorder, upper motor neuron signs, bilateral white matter ischemic changes
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 21, 2006
- Citation
- 0611529
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,987 · Granted: 15% (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 0611529.
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 Board has determined that the Veteran does not have a gait disorder, to include involving the hips and spine, at any time during the appeal period. Therefore, service connection for this condition is denied.
- Granted
The Board finds that it is at least as likely as not that disequilibrium with pain resulting in an unstable gait was caused by service-connected tinnitus and/or bilateral onychomycosis. As such, the Veteran's gait disorder is granted secondary to service-connected disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case for further development, including obtaining an opinion on whether the veteran's NPH and gait disorder are related to his in-service head injury.
- Denied
The Board found no medical evidence linking the veteran's current degenerative changes of the lumbar spine or gait disorder to his service, and thus denied both claims.
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