The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for neuropathy of the right and left feet due to an inadequate medical opinion.
The deciding factor: The August 2024 and March 2025 VA medical opinions are found to be inadequate as they failed to consider lay statements regarding onset and continuity of symptoms, supporting medical literature, and did not address the Veteran's claim that his neuropathy was caused or aggravated by a service-connected heart disability.
- Claimed conditions
- neuropathy of the right foot, neuropathy of the left foot
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 13, 2025
- Citation
- 25006444
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,050 · Granted: 32% (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 25006444.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected bilateral pes planus, metatarsalgia of both feet, plantar fasciitis of both feet, and neuropathy of both feet have been granted effective July 14, 2014. The Veteran also received a separate rating for hammertoes of the right foot (10%) and left foot (10%), as well as arthritis of the first MTP joint of the right and left foot (10%).
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension is granted as service-connected due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents during his Vietnam service.,Service connection for OSA and neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities are denied, with no evidence linking these conditions to herbicide exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand two claims for service connection for neuropathy of the left and right feet due to errors in obtaining relevant medical records and inadequate examination opinions. The Veteran's conditions are being reviewed again with additional evidence and a new VA examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for neuropathy of the right foot to obtain an adequate examination and opinion, as the previous VA examination was found inadequate.
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