The Board remands the claims for service connection for a right leg condition, right ankle condition, metatarsalgia as secondary to a right leg condition, and fat pad atrophy due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
The deciding factor: Remand is required to obtain adequate opinions regarding clear and unmistakable evidence of aggravation beyond the natural progression of the conditions during service.
- Claimed conditions
- right leg condition, right ankle condition, metatarsalgia, fat pad atrophy
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 26, 2025
- Citation
- A25017665
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 910 · Granted: 31% (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 A25017665.
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 determined that there is no evidence of a current disability for any of the claimed conditions, and thus service connection cannot be granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's bilateral hip conditions, right knee condition, and/or right ankle condition are related to service. The claims are remanded for further development.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal due to the Veteran's withdrawal of the appeal prior to a decision being made.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that the VA medical opinion provided by the examiner is inadequate for secondary service connection claims and thus remanded to obtain a new opinion.
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