The Board has found that the Veteran's bilateral pes planus and fatigue were aggravated by service, but there is insufficient evidence to determine if this aggravation was clearly and unmistakably not due to service. The claims are therefore remanded for further examination and opinion.
The deciding factor: The examiner must use the correct standard of 'clearly and unmistakably' when addressing whether the preexisting pes planus was aggravated by active service, and provide an opinion on whether this aggravation is clearly and unmistakably not due to service.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral pes planus, fatigue
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2023
- Citation
- 23003886
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 23003886.
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 determined that the AOJ did not obtain all necessary opinions regarding whether the Veteran's symptoms are related to an undiagnosed illness or medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness (MUCMI). The claims for service connection for fatigue, fibromyalgia, left elbow disorder, right elbow disorder, and sleep disorder are remanded for further development.
- Denied
The Board denied the Appellant's requests for earlier effective dates for his service connection for bilateral pes planus and gynecomastia scar residuals, finding that the earliest possible effective dates are the dates of receipt of the claims.
- Denied
The Veteran's hypertension, bilateral pes planus, PTSD, and anxiety were all denied as service connection was not established based on the evidence of record.,Bilateral pes planus was denied due to lack of current diagnosis.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for treatment purposes only under Chapter 17 for various conditions, including cervical spine condition, right upper extremity nerve condition, left upper extremity nerve condition, headache condition, right wrist condition, left wrist condition, right elbow condition, left elbow condition, right shoulder condition, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), bilateral pes planus, right ankle disorder, left ankle disorder, and left knee disorder.
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