The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for hypertension, bilateral knee disorders, low back disorder, bilateral ankle disorders, bilateral foot disorders, and headaches due to inadequate medical opinions that did not consider the Veteran's lay statements regarding his service experiences and post-service symptoms.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners failed to adequately address the Veteran's lay statements and contentions regarding his in-service injuries and continuity of symptomatology.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertension, left knee disorder, right knee disorder, low back disorder, left ankle disorder, right ankle disorder, left foot disorder, right foot disorder, headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 3, 2021
- Citation
- 21040280
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 21040280.
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 case due to the need for additional development, including obtaining SSA records and providing proper notice regarding secondary service connection.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete development of records and will provide a supplemental statement of the case if necessary.
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