The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate opinions regarding the etiology and secondary service connection of the Veteran's left ankle strain. The claim is being returned for further examination and opinion.
The deciding factor: The opinions provided by the VA examiner are insufficient as they do not address the chronicity of complaints or treatment for the left ankle condition, nor do they consider the relationship between the right ankle disability and the left ankle strain.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle strain
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 20, 2019
- Citation
- 19187965
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 the veteran's claims for service connection, increased ratings, and earlier effective dates as there was no evidence to support a causal relationship between his current conditions and his active military service.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial evaluation of 20 percent for left and right ankle strains, denied a compensable evaluation for bilateral hearing loss, and remanded claims for hypertension and gout.
- Denied
The Board denied earlier effective dates for the grant of service connection and initial increased ratings for various conditions, as well as remanded several issues for further development.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for left shoulder strain, right shoulder strain, early osteoarthritis of the left and right hips (secondary to a service-connected knee disability), and right and left ankle strains (secondary to a service-connected knee disability).
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