The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for various gout disabilities in his lower extremities due to inadequate medical opinions and a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
The deciding factor: The May 2025 medical opinion did not adequately address whether the Veteran's use of aspirin to treat his service-connected shoulder and elbow conditions aggravated his gout disabilities, and the AOJ should have obtained an opinion regarding whether the Veteran's current lower extremity gout disabilities may be associated with a claimed in-service injury.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle gout, right ankle gout, right knee gout, left knee gout, left foot and toe gout, right foot and toe gout
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 24, 2026
- Citation
- A26016664
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 A26016664.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for various service connection and rating decisions related to gout affecting multiple joints, left foot gout, right foot gout, elbow pronation and supination gout, elbow limitation of flexion gout, thumb gout, index finger gout, long finger gout, ring and little finger gout, middle finger gout, ankle gout, knee gout, and right thumb gout. The effective dates for these decisions were not earlier than the specified dates.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for urinary frequency, as secondary to hypertension and non-service-connected diabetes mellitus type II. The other claims are remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for left ankle gout, right ankle gout, left knee gout, left wrist gout, and right wrist gout. The Veteran's claim for right knee gout was incorporated into an already service-connected right knee disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the remaining issues due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
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