The Board has remanded the Veteran's claim for service connection for a bilateral foot disability due to incomplete medical records and inadequate nexus opinions. The AOJ is instructed to obtain updated treatment records, verify the exact dates of active duty, ACDUTRA, and INACDUTRA served by the Veteran in the United States Army, Army Reserve, and Maryland Army National Guard, and seek medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's foot disabilities.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the current remand is necessary due to incomplete records and inadequate nexus opinions provided by VA medical examiners.
- Claimed conditions
- pes planus (flat foot syndrome), plantar fasciitis, hallux rigidus, arthritis, including gouty and/or rheumatoid arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 23, 2024
- Citation
- 24032158
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 399 · Granted: 41% (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 24032158.
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 decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for athletes' foot, low back strain, and plantar fasciitis due to a lack of a VA examination prior to the August 2020 rating decision.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal of an earlier effective date for service connection for bilateral pes planus and plantar fasciitis has been dismissed as the Veteran withdrew his appeal prior to a decision being made.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a need for a VA examination and medical opinion regarding the Veteran's service connection claim for plantar fasciitis.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral foot disability, including plantar fasciitis and flat foot (pes planus), finding no evidence of a causal link to his active military service.
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