The Veteran's service connection claims for left ankle, left leg, and right leg disorders are remanded due to a lack of evidence of current disabilities related to his in-service injuries. The Board finds that the Veteran provided good cause for not attending the scheduled VA examination.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not attend the scheduled VA examination and failed to provide adequate reasons or evidence to excuse such failure.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle disorder, left leg disorder, right leg disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 16, 2020
- Citation
- A20016913
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 A20016913.
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 granted the Veteran's request to readjudicate his claims for service connection for a lumbar spine disorder and obstructive sleep apnea, but denied his claim for right knee disorder. The Board also remanded the cases of left leg disorder and lumbar spine disorder.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for bilateral hearing loss, left ankle disorder, and skin disorder (claimed as neurodermatitis) due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology. The Veteran is required to undergo additional VA examinations to determine if his current conditions are related to service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for treatment purposes only under Chapter 17 for various conditions, including cervical spine condition, right upper extremity nerve condition, left upper extremity nerve condition, headache condition, right wrist condition, left wrist condition, right elbow condition, left elbow condition, right shoulder condition, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), bilateral pes planus, right ankle disorder, left ankle disorder, and left knee disorder.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the cases for new VA examinations due to inadequate opinions in the July 2020 VA examination reports. The Veteran's right shoulder disorder, left ankle disorder, and lumbar spine disorder are being reviewed again to determine if they are related to his active duty service.
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