The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for various recurrent hand, hip, and foot disabilities to include degenerative arthritis, all claimed as due to herbicide agent exposure in Vietnam. The VA is instructed to schedule the Veteran for additional examinations to determine if these conditions are related to his military service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that further examination was needed to assess whether the Veteran's diagnosed hand, hip, and foot disabilities are related to his reported in-service trauma and presumed herbicide exposure in Vietnam.
- Claimed conditions
- recurrent cervical spine disability, degenerative arthritis, neck, recurrent right hand disability, degenerative arthritis, right hand, recurrent left hand disability, degenerative arthritis, left hand, recurrent right hip disability, osteoarthritis, right hip, recurrent left hip disability, osteoarthritis, left hip, recurrent right foot disability, degenerative arthritis, right foot, recurrent left foot disability, degenerative arthritis, left foot
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 3, 2024
- Citation
- 24000445
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 918 · Granted: 32% (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 24000445.
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 Veteran's claims for service connection for osteoarthritis, left hip; greater trochanteric pain syndrome, left hip; and spinal stenosis, thoracolumbar spine were denied as there is no evidence of a current disability related to her time in service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for a VA examination to determine if any identified recurrent femoral disabilities had their onset during active service or are related to any incident of service, including whether pre-existing slipped femoral epiphysis repair residuals were aggravated by active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for osteoarthritis, left hip as secondary to his service-connected lumbosacral strain with degenerative disc disease and arthritis is being remanded due to a duty to assist error.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of proper notice and is now required to provide the Veteran with a pre-decisional hearing.
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