The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the relationship between the veteran's right carpal tunnel syndrome and his service-connected injuries. The veteran needs a medical opinion based on the November 2005 examination and review of his claims file.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner was instructed to comment on the most probable cause of any hand weakness or atrophy, rather than directly addressing the etiology of the carpal tunnel syndrome related to service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- right carpal tunnel syndrome
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 20, 2006
- Citation
- 0635957
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 680 · Granted: 24% (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 0635957.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeal as it found that the benefits originally sought have been granted in full, and thus there is no longer a specific error of fact or law to address.
- Granted
The Veteran's left and right carpal tunnel syndrome have been granted increased ratings to 20% and 30%, respectively, effective from the date of the decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the claims for service connection for hypertension, left carpal tunnel syndrome, right carpal tunnel syndrome, and a left foot condition must be remanded due to inadequate medical opinions. The claim for an effective date of February 25, 2024 for bipolar disorder is granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's TDIU claim is being remanded due to a failure to obtain relevant VA medical records from the San Juan VA Medical Center. The Veteran meets the schedular threshold for TDIU based on his service-connected disabilities and combined rating of 70 percent.
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