The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for bilateral hip disability, finding that a VA examination is needed to determine if her hip disabilities are related to service or secondary to her service-connected scoliosis.
The deciding factor: The examiner was unable to provide an opinion regarding whether the Veteran’s bilateral hip disability is caused by or aggravated by her service connected scoliosis without resorting to speculation.
- Claimed conditions
- osteoarthritis in the right hip, osteoarthritis in the left hip
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 7, 2020
- Citation
- A20018047
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,188 · Granted: 23% (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 A20018047.
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 remanded six issues of service connection for various knee and hip conditions, as well as arthritis in the left foot. The reasons include insufficient evidence to determine if the pre-existing lumbar spine disorder was aggravated by service or if the left foot arthritis is related to a vehicle accident during service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for osteoarthritis in both the left and right hips, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between the current conditions and service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for lumbar degenerative joint disease, arthritis in the left foot, osteoarthritis in the right knee, osteoarthritis in the left knee, osteoarthritis in the right hip, and osteoarthritis in the left hip. The decision was based on a finding that these conditions were not incurred or aggravated by service.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for RSD, right lower extremity and right pelvic deficiency is denied. The Board finds that the evidence does not support a current diagnosis of RSD in the right lower extremity or a causal relationship between the Veteran's service-connected low back strain and his right hip arthritis.
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