The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for hip pain, bilateral knee pain, bilateral leg pain, and bilateral foot pain due to insufficient evidence regarding their etiology. The Veteran needs further examination to determine if he has a disability or functional limitation related to these conditions.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner is required to provide an opinion on the relationship between the Veteran's current hip, knee, leg, and foot disabilities and his service based on review of the record and any information provided by the Veteran.
- Claimed conditions
- hip pain, bilateral knee pain, bilateral leg pain, bilateral foot pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 17, 2019
- Citation
- 19129844
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a chronic undiagnosed illness manifested by bilateral leg pain, bilateral hand tremors, sinus problems, shortness of breath and recurrent transient ear noise due to Gulf War service. Service connection was denied for CFS.
- Dismissed
The veteran withdrew all pending appeals on April 28, 2025.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including inadequate VA examinations and failure to obtain etiological opinions.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, back disability, bilateral achilles tendonitis, gout, diabetes mellitus, type 2 (DMII), obstructive sleep apnea, and an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include anxiety and depression. The Board denied increased ratings for right and left knee degenerative joint disease, separate ratings for instability of the knees, a separate rating for residuals of a right knee meniscectomy, and service connection for bilateral leg pain, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic sinus disability, respiratory disability due to exposure to asbestos, heart murmur, irregular heartbeat, and seizures.
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