The Board has remanded the claims of entitlement to service connection for bilateral hip disabilities, as secondary to service-connected conditions including lumbar spine disability, bilateral knee disability, right lower extremity radiculopathy and left lower extremity radiculopathy. The VA examiner is requested to provide an opinion on whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's bilateral hip disabilities were proximately caused or aggravated by her service-connected conditions.
The deciding factor: The Board requires a VA examiner to address obesity as an intermediate step between the service-connected conditions and the current claim for bilateral hip disabilities, and to consider whether the service-connected conditions can aggravate the Veteran's bilateral hip disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Hip Disability, Left Hip Disability
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 20, 2024
- Citation
- A24058888
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 A24058888.
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 has denied service connection for the claimed conditions as there is no persuasive evidence of current diagnoses or in-service incurrence or aggravation.
- Denied
The Board denied an increased rating for the Veteran's right hip disability, finding that her current 10 percent rating adequately reflects her symptoms and limitations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to inadequate medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's right hip disability, which may be related to service or secondary to his service-connected bilateral pes planus.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for both a right hip disability and a left hip disability, finding that the Veteran's observable symptoms of pain and stiffness began during his active service and have persisted.
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