The Board has decided to remand the case due to inadequate VA examinations and requests for additional medical records. The Veteran's right ankle injury will need further examination by a VA orthopedist.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on the inadequacy of previous VA examinations and the need for new, more detailed evaluations.
- Claimed conditions
- Right ankle injury, Arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 13, 2019
- Citation
- 19185609
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,987 · Granted: 15% (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 19185609.
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 decided to remand the case due to a duty-to-assist error in previous examinations, requiring additional information on right shoulder ROM measurements without medication effects.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection for a right ankle disability was dismissed because his Notice of Disagreement (NOD) was not filed within the one-year deadline and he did not request an extension. The Board found that the NOD was untimely.
- Granted
The Veteran's disability ratings for low back disability and right lower extremity radiculopathy have been reduced from 40% and 10%, respectively, to 20% and 0%. The reduction was based on improvements shown in recent VA examinations.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for right and left ankle injuries, finding that there is no evidence of a nexus between the current conditions and military service.
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