The Board remands the claims for service connection for left ankle, right ankle, and left hip conditions to obtain additional medical opinions regarding their etiology in relation to the Veteran's service-connected bilateral foot disability.
The deciding factor: The VA opinions were found inadequate as they did not address both 'caused by' and 'aggravation' avenues for secondary service-connection, and failed to consider postural changes due to the Veteran's foot condition.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle condition, right ankle condition, left hip condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 1, 2024
- Citation
- A24070979
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 service connection for the veteran's claimed conditions, including right shoulder arthritis, left shoulder arthritis, right hip condition, left hip condition, low back disability, and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy, as there was no evidence of in-service injury or illness related to these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for right foot, left elbow, left hip, left ankle, and diabetes mellitus to obtain additional medical evidence.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for multiple conditions, including an ink/clothing allergy, ACL tears, hip and rib cage conditions, a supplemental deficiency/iron, an eye disability, and an overweight condition. The claim for an allowance for the purchase of an automobile or other conveyance was also denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and other benefits, finding that the evidence did not support higher ratings or additional compensation.
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