The Board has found that there was an error in the duty to assist and has remanded for additional development, including obtaining consent forms and scheduling a VA examination.
The deciding factor: The claim is being remanded due to the need for additional evidence and clarification regarding the nature of the Veteran's surgeries and their impact on his right lower extremity disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Right lower extremity disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- October 23, 2020
- Citation
- A20015968
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,088 · Granted: 33% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation A20015968.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Dismissed
The Board dismissed the Veteran's claims for service connection of a right lower extremity disability and left lower extremity radiculopathy, as well as her eligibility for specially adapted housing. The decision also granted her eligibility for special home adaptation due to permanent total service-connected disabilities.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection for hypertension, warts, and bilateral lower extremity disabilities due to errors in creating an adequate TERA memorandum and failure to obtain a TERA nexus opinion. The VA RO is required to create a new TERA memorandum considering all possible TERAs, including those related to Persian Gulf service, asbestos exposure at Fort McClellan, and the Veteran's MOS. A new TERA nexus opinion must be obtained for each of these disabilities.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that additional medical opinions are needed to properly address the Veteran's claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 due to his cervical spine surgeries, as there were gaps in the reasoning provided by the examiner regarding whether the disability was aggravated or unforeseeable.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matters for further development, including obtaining adequate medical examinations to determine the Veteran's current level of disability and whether there is loss of use of both feet or legs.
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