The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of entitlement to service connection for bilateral foot and ankle disabilities, both secondary to his service-connected knee disability. The case is being returned to the AOJ for further development.
The deciding factor: The previous VA examinations were inadequate as they did not address the effect of the Veteran’s altered gait on his bilateral foot and ankle disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral foot disability, bilateral ankle disability
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 6, 2020
- Citation
- 20071909
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral foot disability, respiratory disability (breathing difficulty), cardiac disability (irregular heartbeat), and right hip disability as there was no evidence of a current disability or a link to active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a bilateral foot disability to obtain an addendum medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's pre-existing pes planus was aggravated by service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for multiple disabilities, including bilateral wrist, ankle, foot, shoulder, allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, lumbosacral spine, and carpal tunnel syndrome, as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to active service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for tinnitus, a right shoulder disability, diabetes mellitus type II, left and right lower extremity neuropathy, and a bilateral foot disability as secondary to diabetes mellitus due to lack of new and relevant evidence.
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