The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's right hip disability is secondary to his service-connected fragment wounds of the bilateral lower extremities. The issue will be reconsidered after obtaining a new VA examination and considering any newly acquired evidence.
The deciding factor: A new medical opinion is required to adequately decide the merits of the claim for secondary service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative joint disease of the right hip
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20003472
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,451 · Granted: 22% (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 20003472.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for degenerative joint disease of the right hip, left hip, and left shoulder, as well as PTSD. The claim for a higher rating for the right knee scar was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for eligibility for specially adapted housing and special home adaptation due to not meeting the legal criteria.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for degenerative joint disease of the right and left hips, as well as degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine and lumbar spine, resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran's surviving spouse.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to inadequate VA examination reports. The issues include arthritis, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, kidney conditions, gallbladder conditions, appendix conditions, sinusitis, erectile dysfunction, and eye problems. These matters will be addressed by new medical opinions regarding exposure at Pease Air Force Base.
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