The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the relationship between the Veteran's service-connected left knee disability and his claimed right foot fracture, left foot tendinitis, and right hip tendinitis. The claims are now pending with instructions to obtain new opinions from qualified physicians.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the previous VA opinion was inadequate as it did not address whether the Veteran's obesity acted as an intermediate step between his service-connected left knee disability and his claimed conditions, or if any of the conditions were related to service on a direct or secondary basis.
- Claimed conditions
- right foot fracture, left foot tendinitis, right hip tendinitis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 28, 2019
- Citation
- 19181526
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,604 · Granted: 65% (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 19181526.
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 has determined that the Veteran's claims for service connection have been readjudicated and are denied. The Veteran submitted new and relevant evidence in support of his claim for bilateral hearing loss, but the evidence does not establish a current disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's right foot disability. The claim will be reconsidered with a new VA medical opinion.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates have been dismissed as the benefits sought on appeal have already been granted in full.,Service connection has not been established for GERD, left ear hearing loss, or right lower extremity neuropathy.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including an acquired psychiatric disorder and hearing loss. The evidence does not support a finding that any of these conditions were incurred or aggravated during military service.
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