The veteran is seeking service connection for a bilateral heel disability. The RO denied this claim in August 2003, but the Board has decided to remand it due to the need for an examination and opinion regarding the etiology of any heel disorder found on examination.
The deciding factor: The case was remanded because there is insufficient evidence to determine if a bilateral heel disability is related to service. A VA examination is needed to provide this information.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral heel disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 19, 2006
- Citation
- 0639490
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,613 · Granted: 30% (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 0639490.
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 current diagnosis of a bilateral heel disability and therefore, service connection for this condition is denied.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for service connection of diabetes mellitus, heart disability, bilateral heel disability, and hypertension as they are not eligible to be adjudicated due to the appellant's death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development and consideration of issues related to service connection for bilateral heel disabilities, timely substantive appeal regarding severance of service connection for degenerative joint disease of the left knee, rating in excess of 10 percent for degenerative joint disease of left knee from 2009 to 2017, and entitlement to TDIU.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for a bilateral heel disability as secondary to his service-connected cervical spine disability. The evidence is approximately balanced as to whether the Veteran's current bilateral heel disability was caused by his May 2014 surgery on his service-connected cervical spine disability and recovery.
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