The Board remands the Veteran's claim for service connection for diabetes, to include as secondary to OSA, lumbar retrolisthesis, left knee disabilities, or bilateral ankle disabilities, with obesity as an intermediate step, due to inadequate VA opinions and alternative theories of entitlement.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary to obtain adequate medical opinions addressing the specific elements of service connection via obesity as an intermediate step between the Veteran's service-connected disabilities and his diabetes.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 28, 2025
- Citation
- A25038471
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 Board granted service connection for multiple conditions, including an acquired psychiatric disorder, sleep apnea, hypertension, and various musculoskeletal and skin disabilities.
- Dismissed
The appeals for service connection for various conditions were dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for dermatochalasis, meibomian gland dysfunction, and blepharitis. The claims for lumbosacral strain, left lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic nerve), right shoulder tendinopathy, diabetes, and prostate cancer with urinary incontinence status-post prostatectomy were remanded.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's death during the pendency of the appeal.
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