The Veteran's service connection for bilateral pes planus is granted. The Board finds that the Veteran's current pes planus disability was aggravated by service, and thus service connection is granted.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's pre-existing bilateral pes planus was found to have been aggravated by service due to an increase in severity during service not clearly and unmistakably due to the natural progression of the disease.
- Claimed conditions
- left and right foot pes planus, degenerative disc disease of the thoracolumbar spine, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), bilateral hallux valgus, bilateral plantar fasciitis
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19109487
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,614 · Granted: 35% (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 19109487.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including right shoulder disability, abdominal hernia, GERD, bilateral ankle disabilities, and bilateral foot disabilities. The evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were incurred or aggravated during the appellant's period of active duty.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for sinusitis and remanded the Veteran's claims for chronic lower back pain, right knee pain, left knee pain, neck pain, and GERD.
- Dismissed
The appeals regarding the evaluation of bilateral plantar fasciitis and residuals of fractures of the second, fourth, and fifth left toes, as well as the evaluation of bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy with loss of use, are dismissed as untimely.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to an inadequate VA medical opinion regarding the relationship between the Veteran's bilateral plantar fasciitis and his service. The Veteran is seeking service connection for this condition.
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