The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for further examination and medical opinion regarding his claimed bilateral foot condition, back condition, and knee condition. The issues of service connection are not addressed as the appeal does not involve a claim for service connection.
The deciding factor: Further examination and medical opinion are needed to determine if the Veteran’s current conditions are related to service or pre-existing conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Foot Condition, Back Condition, Knee Condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 12, 2020
- Citation
- 20011961
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 20011961.
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 August 1996 rating decision denied service connection for a back condition due to the claim being considered not well-grounded, as there was no current disability and no evidence of in-service injury or disease.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found a pre-decisional duty-to-assist error in the VA examination for service connection of the back condition and requires an addendum opinion to address whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's back disability began in service or was caused by any incident of service.
- Granted
The Board has granted effective dates of August 12, 2024 for the awards of a 50% rating for sinusitis and a 40% rating for intervertebral disc syndrome of the lumbar spine. Service connection for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy of the sciatic nerve was also granted effective on that date.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of adequate medical opinions regarding whether the Veteran's pre-existing pes planus was aggravated by service.
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