The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for left and right ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain due to insufficient opinions regarding service connection. The examiner is asked to provide an opinion on whether these conditions are related to military service, including considering any pre-existing conditions.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not adequately address the Veteran's lay statements about ongoing right ankle pain and failed to consider if his current ankle disabilities were aggravated by service.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain, right ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 6, 2023
- Citation
- 23007558
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 23007558.
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 Veteran's service connection claims for various conditions were granted effective from July 1, 2020.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal because the appellant requested to withdraw his appeal for service connection claims related to left ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain, left knee strain, bilateral hearing loss, and low back injury.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for all issues related to service connection and rating decisions from February 2017, May 2019, and November 2019 due to untimely Notice of Disagreement filings.
- Denied
The Board denied earlier effective dates for service connection for various wrist and elbow conditions, finding that the Veteran did not submit the correct form within one year of receiving a decision.
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