The Board has decided that the Veteran's bilateral gout is secondary to his service-connected diabetes mellitus and grants this claim. The hallux valgus issue remains pending as it requires a remand for further examination and opinion.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner failed to consider whether diabetes was a 'but-for' cause of the Veteran's gout, which is required for secondary service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral gout, hallux valgus, left lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 12, 2026
- Citation
- A26013263
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 A26013263.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for multiple conditions, but granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for tinnitus and remanded the claims for bilateral gout, bilateral hearing loss, and left knee patellofemoral pain syndrome due to insufficient evidence.
- Partly granted
The veteran's claim for service connection for gout was denied. The claim for a foot condition was remanded for further evaluation.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral gout, finding that the evidence does not show a relationship to service or service-connected disabilities. The Veteran's TDIU claim was granted prior to December 21, 2010, due to his service-connected disabilities.
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