The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for an initial disability rating for his right-toe condition and service connection for a bilateral knee condition due to inadequate VA examinations and failure to obtain relevant records.
The deciding factor: VA failed to provide adequate medical opinions on direct service connection and secondary service connection, and did not secure SSA records or schedule the Veteran for an examination of his bilateral knee condition.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis of the right great toe, Bilateral-knee condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 3, 2019
- Citation
- 19190759
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,035 · Granted: 30% (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 19190759.
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 right great toe hallux rigidus with arthritis is granted an initial 10 percent disability rating, effective from the date of decision.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted a separate 10 percent evaluation for right toe painful motion with arthritis, to include partial toe amputation and toenail removal. The decision resolves all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection were denied. His degenerative arthritis of the right great toe is rated at 10 percent, which does not meet his request for a higher rating. The residuals of his right third metatarsal fracture are also rated at 10 percent. Service connection for gout was denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for degenerative arthritis of the right great toe and right knee. However, the issues of service connection for OSA secondary to PTSD, hypertension, and ED as secondary to hypertension are remanded due to insufficient evidence.
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