The Board has decided that the Veteran's claim for service connection for a bilateral lower extremity peripheral nerve disorder, including as due to herbicide exposure (Agent Orange), should be remanded for further development and medical opinion.
The deciding factor: The complexity of the medical questions at issue requires a specialist opinion from a neurologist or other appropriate specialist regarding whether presumed Agent Orange exposure directly caused the Veteran's currently diagnosed bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, specifically small fiber neuropathy.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral lower extremity peripheral nerve disorder, small fiber neuropathy
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20069959
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,200 · Granted: 43% (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 20069959.
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 small fiber neuropathy, finding that the Veteran's symptoms were present during service and have been linked to his current condition. The effective date of this benefit is October 4, 2021.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claims for service connection for small fiber neuropathy in both the right and left lower extremities were dismissed as a matter of law due to an impermissible concurrent election of review.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for twitching and/or itching and/or small fiber neuropathy is being remanded due to the need for further examination and evaluation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has ordered remand for the Veteran to undergo VA examinations and provide an opinion regarding his claims of small fiber neuropathy and a back disorder, as these conditions are secondary to his service-connected chronic multi-symptom and multi-system undiagnosed illness characterized by diffuse muscle pain and fatigue.
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