The Board remanded the veteran's claim for service connection of bilateral foot disability, including pes planus and plantar fasciitis, due to inadequate medical opinions. The VA will need to obtain new medical opinions addressing whether the veteran's pre-existing conditions were aggravated by service.
The deciding factor: The decision was based on a duty to assist error that occurred prior to the August 31, 2022 rating decision on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral foot disability, bilateral pes planus, plantar fasciitis
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 8, 2025
- Citation
- A25002046
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,421 · 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 A25002046.
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 determined that the Veteran's bilateral foot disability is related to his active military service and grants service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The Board denied the Appellant's requests for earlier effective dates for his service connection for bilateral pes planus and gynecomastia scar residuals, finding that the earliest possible effective dates are the dates of receipt of the claims.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for athletes' foot, low back strain, and plantar fasciitis due to a lack of a VA examination prior to the August 2020 rating decision.
- Denied
The Veteran's hypertension, bilateral pes planus, PTSD, and anxiety were all denied as service connection was not established based on the evidence of record.,Bilateral pes planus was denied due to lack of current diagnosis.
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