The Board remands the claims for further development and to obtain additional evidence, including a complete service treatment record from the appellant's Reserve period.
The deciding factor: The claims were remanded due to duty-to-assist errors in obtaining adequate medical opinions on the nature and etiology of the claimed conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- colon cancer, alopecia (hair loss), bilateral hand osteoarthritis, bilateral hip osteoarthritis, bilateral shoulder osteoarthritis, bilateral foot disability, to include neuropathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 2, 2025
- Citation
- A25000085
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 bilateral foot disability, respiratory disability (breathing difficulty), cardiac disability (irregular heartbeat), and right hip disability as there was no evidence of a current disability or a link to active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a bilateral foot disability to obtain an addendum medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's pre-existing pes planus was aggravated by service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of colon cancer, claimed as due to exposure to asbestos, for an addendum opinion considering additional evidence.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for multiple disabilities, including bilateral wrist, ankle, foot, shoulder, allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, lumbosacral spine, and carpal tunnel syndrome, as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to active service.
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