The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for bilateral pes planus, thoracolumbar spine disability, and chronic bronchitis due to duty-to-assist errors. The issues are related to service connection and require additional medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The AOJ failed to obtain adequate medical opinions addressing the nature of the Veteran's conditions and their relationship to his military service or VA treatment.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral pes planus, thoracolumbar spine disability
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 19, 2024
- Citation
- A24019871
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 A24019871.
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 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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection for cervical and thoracolumbar spine disabilities due to a predecisional duty to assist error. The Veteran's past medical history needs to be considered in the new examination.
- 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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