The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the etiology of his foot and knee disabilities, as well as their relationship to service. The AOJ must provide an addendum opinion addressing these issues.
The deciding factor: Insufficient medical opinions were provided by VA examiners regarding the etiology of the Veteran's foot and knee disabilities and their relationship to service.
- Claimed conditions
- left foot disability, right foot disability, lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis, left knee osteoarthritis, right knee osteoarthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 8, 2026
- Citation
- A26001931
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 A26001931.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has expanded the scope of the claim for major depression to encompass any mental health disability raised by the record and has remanded six issues for additional development.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for various conditions were granted effective from July 1, 2020.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not render him so helpless as to require the regular aid and attendance of another person, but his service-connected persistent depressive disorder alone rendered him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation. The Board has granted SMC at the housebound rate.
- Denied
The Board found the evidence persuasive against finding that the Veteran's lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis is proximately due to, the result of, or aggravated by his service-connected duodenal ulcer, pancreatitis, and cervical spondylosis with IVDS, degenerative disc disease, and stenosis. Therefore, the claim for service connection was denied.
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