The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's penile lesions are caused or aggravated by his service-connected epididymitis. The VA is instructed to obtain an addendum opinion from a urologist and ensure all pertinent records are obtained.
The deciding factor: The decision was remanded because the provided medical opinion did not address the correct standard for secondary service connection, which requires consideration of aggravation beyond natural progression.
- Claimed conditions
- penile lesion, epididymitis
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2020
- Citation
- 20008044
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,196 · Granted: 17% (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 20008044.
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 Board has determined that the Veteran's epididymitis was incurred during service and granted service connection for this condition.
- Granted
The Veteran's effective date for a 40 percent disability rating for service-connected epididymitis, status post right hemiscrotal exploration, is granted as of June 21, 2019.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for SMC(k) based on loss of use of creative organ is granted effective June 1, 2016. The claim for additional SMC(k) benefits is denied as the Veteran is already in receipt of SMC(k).
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for an effective date prior to December 7, 2015, for the award of service connection for varicocele and epididymitis has been dismissed due to the Veteran's withdrawal request.
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