The Board has determined that additional VA examinations are necessary to properly adjudicate the Veteran's claims for service connection of right ankle, bilateral hip, and sciatic nerve disabilities. The claims will be remanded for these purposes.
The deciding factor: The provided opinions from the previous VA examiner were inadequate as they did not address all questions posed by the Board in its 2016 remand and failed to provide a rationale for their conclusions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's right ankle, bilateral hip, and sciatic nerve disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Ankle Disability, Bilateral Hip Disability, Sciatic Nerve Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 9, 2019
- Citation
- 19126633
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 denied service connection for various disabilities and denied higher ratings for several service-connected conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for tinnitus, bilateral hip, knee, and ankle disabilities due to a lack of evidence supporting an in-service injury or continuity of symptomatology. The claim for a psychiatric disorder was also denied as the Veteran's statements were found not credible.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia, but denied service connection for right knee disability, left knee disability, right ankle disability, intestinal condition (chronic colitis), and chronic migraine disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for further development and to ensure compliance with VA's duty to assist.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.