The Board has determined that a remand is necessary to address the service connection for type II diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism, as well as the rating for residuals of posterior iliac crest injury with degenerative joint disease, bursitis, and sensory deficit. The issues are related to secondary service connection.
The deciding factor: The Board found that further development is needed due to the need for a supplemental medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's obesity was an intermediate step in establishing proximate causation between his service-connected orthopedic and neurological disabilities and his currently diagnosed diabetes and hypothyroidism, as well as the need for a VA examination to determine the current severity of the right hip disability.
- Claimed conditions
- type II diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 17, 2020
- Citation
- 20073710
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,990 · Granted: 35% (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 20073710.
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 the claims for service connection for a back disorder, high blood pressure, and type II diabetes mellitus due to errors in development of the claim.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's initial compensable evaluation for hypothyroidism is denied, and the Board finds that service connection for lumbar degenerative disc disease and bilateral foot condition should be remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of hypothyroidism and therefore denied their claim for service connection.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for tinnitus was dismissed. The Board granted service connection for hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's thyroiditis with complications, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, vitamin deficiencies, memory/cognitive impairment, unexplained arthralgias, fatigue, hair loss, and bradycardia.
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