The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for further development, including obtaining a new VA medical examination to assess the current nature and severity of his right and left heel spur syndrome.
The deciding factor: The CAVC found that the basis for an examiner's opinion regarding the degree of additional limitation of motion due to flare-ups was not clear from the Board's review of the evidence, violating Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998), and Jones v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 382 (2010).
- Claimed conditions
- right heel spur syndrome, left heel spur syndrome
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 21, 2011
- Citation
- 1139253
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 1139253.
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 Veteran's right foot disability, including heel spur syndrome, inferior calcaneal bursitis, and plantar fasciitis, was not rated higher than 20 percent due to the absence of pronounced symptoms such as marked pronation or inward displacement.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his acquired psychiatric disorder, hypothyroidism, right heel spur syndrome, and hemorrhoids. The evidence did not meet the criteria for a higher rating under any applicable diagnostic codes.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including obtaining VA treatment records and scheduling examinations to assess the severity of his service-connected foot disabilities and back disability.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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