The Veteran's claim for service connection for a bilateral ankle condition and whether to reopen his claim of service connection for a lumbar spine condition is being remanded.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for a bilateral foot condition (plantar fasciitis) and cervical spine condition (claimed as C3 and C4 disc herniation with mild central stenosis) is also being remanded.
The deciding factor: There are insufficient medical records to determine the etiology of the Veteran's ankle conditions.,The VA examiner did not diagnose a cervical spine condition, but found no evidence linking it to service. The Veteran has multiple in-service incidents that may be related to his current conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- plantar fasciitis, lumbar spine condition (claimed as C3 and C4 disc herniation with mild central stenosis), bilateral ankle condition, cervical spine condition (claimed as C3 and C4 disc herniation with mild central stenosis), bilateral hearing loss disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19116543
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 880 · Granted: 26% (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 19116543.
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 Board has granted service connection for tinnitus but has remanded the issue of service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability due to inadequate examination and reasoning.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for athletes' foot, low back strain, and plantar fasciitis due to a lack of a VA examination prior to the August 2020 rating decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to inadequate development of evidence, specifically failing to provide a VA examination or medical opinion regarding his claimed bilateral ankle, knee, low back, and left shoulder conditions. The claims are being returned to the AOJ for further action.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal of an earlier effective date for service connection for bilateral pes planus and plantar fasciitis has been dismissed as the Veteran withdrew his appeal prior to a decision being made.
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