The Veteran's claim for special monthly compensation due to loss of use of lower extremities is remanded. The case will be returned after the Veteran undergoes a VA examination to assess his service-connected disabilities and determine if they amount to such loss.
The deciding factor: The Veteran’s representative provided evidence indicating that his service-connected disabilities have worsened since the last examination, necessitating further evaluation.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of comminuted fractures of the right and left tibia and fibula, post-traumatic arthritis of the right and left knees, peripheral neuropathy of the right and left lower extremities
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 23, 2019
- Citation
- 19165735
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,374 · Granted: 19% (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 19165735.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for an effective date of April 2, 2020, but no earlier, for special monthly compensation (SMC) based on aid and attendance is granted due to his service-connected conditions requiring regular aid and attendance.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for Total Disability Rating Due to Individual Unemployability (TDIU) is granted, effective from November 4, 2016. The TDIU was previously denied prior to this date due to the Board's failure to consider whether his service-connected disabilities could be combined and considered 'one disability' under VA regulations.
- Granted
The Veteran's SMC for regular aid and attendance is granted due to service-connected disabilities including peripheral neuropathy, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and lower extremity neuropathy.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions are remanded due to the need for additional examinations and medical opinions.,The Veteran's claim for a TDIU is also remanded as it is inextricably intertwined with the other issues.
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