The Board remands all claims for service connection to the AOJ for further development, including obtaining relevant VA and private medical records and scheduling a VA examination.

The deciding factor: The AOJ's failure to make reasonable attempts to obtain potentially relevant treatment records constitutes a pre-decisional duty to assist omission, requiring corrective action.

Claimed conditions

PTSD, hearing loss, tinnitus, diabetes mellitus, left upper extremity nerve disability, right upper extremity nerve disability, cervical spine disability, lumbar spine disability, right hip disability (secondary to lumbar spine disability), right lower extremity nerve disability, left shoulder disability, left wrist disability, right wrist disability, right knee disability, left ankle disability, bilateral plantar fasciitis, GERD, irritable bowel syndrome (FSAD), headaches, vertigo, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, voiding dysfunction, urinary frequency

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

None in this decision

Decision date

December 10, 2025

Citation

A25106657

Want to see how appeals like this one tend to go? Appeals like mine