The Board has found that there are errors in the decision regarding service connection for low back disability, bilateral hip disability, and right leg disability. The Veteran's claims will be remanded to allow for a VA examination and additional development of his medical records.
The deciding factor: There is a pre-decisional error concerning the claims for service connection for low back disability, bilateral hip disability, and right leg disability due to incomplete service treatment records and missing x-ray results. The Veteran should have been afforded a VA examination prior to adjudication of these claims.
- Claimed conditions
- low back disability, bilateral hip disability, right leg disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 20, 2020
- Citation
- A20015766
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,963 · Granted: 32% (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 A20015766.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that remand is needed for the Veteran's claims due to duty to assist errors, including clarification of periods of service and obtaining relevant records. The Veteran will be afforded new medical examinations for each claimed disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the claims of right shoulder disability and low back disability due to insufficient evidence.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection of a low back disability was granted with an effective date of January 9, 2018. The Board accepted her November 21, 2019 VA Form 20-0996 as a valid opt-in of the April 2019 SOC into the modernized review system.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal concerning diabetes and a low back disability has been dismissed due to their death during the pendency of the appeal.
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