The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for various gout conditions and a bilateral wrist disability, including arthritis and ulnar impaction syndrome. The issues are related to secondary service connection due to chronic kidney disease.
The deciding factor: The VA examination did not provide sufficient opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's gout conditions and bilateral wrist disability, specifically whether they were caused by toxic exposure risk activities (TERA) or aggravated by service-connected chronic kidney disease. The examiner also failed to address specific in-service injuries related to these conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- right wrist gout, left wrist gout, right ankle gout, left ankle gout, right foot gout, left foot gout, bilateral wrist disability (arthritis and ulnar impaction syndrome), bilateral hand disability (arthritis), bilateral elbow disability (arthritis)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 11, 2024
- Citation
- A24065387
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,084 · Granted: 20% (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 A24065387.
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 Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for various service connection and rating decisions related to gout affecting multiple joints, left foot gout, right foot gout, elbow pronation and supination gout, elbow limitation of flexion gout, thumb gout, index finger gout, long finger gout, ring and little finger gout, middle finger gout, ankle gout, knee gout, and right thumb gout. The effective dates for these decisions were not earlier than the specified dates.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for tinea pedis, but the claims of bilateral knee disabilities and left ankle disability are remanded due to insufficient evidence.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the VA examinations and opinions provided are inadequate for addressing the Veteran's secondary service connection claim. The case is therefore being remanded to obtain a new opinion.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for left ankle gout, right ankle gout, left knee gout, left wrist gout, and right wrist gout. The Veteran's claim for right knee gout was incorporated into an already service-connected right knee disability.
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