The appeal is remanded to the RO for further development of evidence, including obtaining additional medical records and scheduling a new VA examination.
The deciding factor: The Court's Memorandum Decision required additional evidentiary development due to information provided by the veteran during his March 2002 VA spine examination, and the Board must ensure that all reasonable efforts are made to obtain any relevant records before making a decision on the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- left posterolateral herniated nucleus pulposus at L5-S1, left knee meniscal tear with chronic synovitis with intra-articular effusion, status post left thumb fracture, left hip necrosis with osteoarthritis, residual scar of the right eyebrow
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 23, 2008
- Citation
- 0813378
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,454 · Granted: 23% (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 0813378.
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 Veteran withdrew his appeals for all remaining issues on appeal, including those related to the conditions listed and service connection theories.
- Granted
The Veteran's left hand disability, including arthritis and ankylosis following a thumb fracture in service, is rated at 60 percent due to functional loss of use.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for a residual scar of the right eyebrow, headaches, hearing loss and tinnitus are granted.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities, finding that his conditions do not prevent him from engaging in substantial and gainful employment.
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