The Board remands the claims for service connection for left and right sciatic conditions and left and right flatfoot conditions due to inadequate medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's opinions were inadequate as they relied solely on the Veteran's lay statements without providing an independent rationale or analysis, and did not address aggravation of pre-existing conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- left lower extremity radiculopathy of the sciatic nerve (left sciatic condition), right lower extremity radiculopathy of the sciatic nerve (right sciatic condition), left flatfoot condition, right flatfoot condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 9, 2025
- Citation
- A25106002
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 869 · Granted: 44% (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 A25106002.
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 has granted service connection for the Veteran's Type II diabetes mellitus with retinopathy and bilateral neuropathy, as well as his right flatfoot condition. The claims for a surgical scar of the right foot and diabetic foot ulcers have been reopened due to new evidence submitted by the Veteran.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's left flatfoot, allergies, and back conditions did not clearly and unmistakably pre-exist service or were not aggravated by service. Therefore, service connection for these conditions is denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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