The Board has decided to remand the case due to the need for a new VA examination of the Veteran's left foot to determine if her bunions were aggravated by military service or her service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: The existing VA examinations are outdated and do not consider current evidence of a diagnosis of bilateral hallux valgus in the record.
- Claimed conditions
- left foot bunions
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20067231
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,454 · 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 20067231.
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 service connection for left foot bunions, finding that the Veteran's current diagnosis of left foot bunions is related to his in-service treatment for a callous and big toe pain. Service connection was denied for insomnia due to lack of evidence of any sleep-related or psychiatric injury during service.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeals for increased ratings and a temporary total rating related to various foot and elbow conditions, as well as hemorrhoids. The Board has dismissed these issues.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for lumbar spine disability, temporary total ratings due to convalescence for right and left foot bunions surgeries. The appeals are remanded due to incomplete records and internal inconsistencies in medical opinions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issues of entitlement to service connection for various conditions, including dental condition, sinusitis, hand and wrist disabilities, foot conditions, lumbar spine condition, cervical spine condition. The Veteran's claims are being reviewed again due to insufficient medical opinions.
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