The Board remands the claims for service connection for peripheral artery disease (PAD) and right leg amputation, as secondary to PAD, due to an inadequate VA medical opinion regarding their etiology.
The deciding factor: The June 2024 medical opinion failed to address the Veteran's conceded exposure to Agent Orange and did not substantially comply with the Board's remand directives.
- Claimed conditions
- Peripheral artery disease (PAD), Right leg amputation
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 17, 2025
- Citation
- A25024435
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 857 · Granted: 35% (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 A25024435.
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 diabetes mellitus, Type II and peripheral artery disease as there was no evidence of a causal relationship between the conditions and the appellant's military service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for right and left knee disabilities, to include osteoarthritis (OA), as well as diabetes mellitus, Type II (DM II) and peripheral artery disease (PAD).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for compensation under 38 USC 1151 for right leg amputation to obtain a new VA opinion based on a more complete evidentiary record.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for peripheral vascular disease (PVD) as secondarily aggravated by diabetes, right leg amputation and scar as secondary to PVD, and SMC for loss of use of the right foot. The evaluation in excess of 20 percent for diabetes was denied.
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