The appeal is remanded for further development of the evidence, including an examination to determine if the Veteran's current left shoulder arthritis is related to his active service.
The deciding factor: The Board determined that a VA examination was necessary to address the etiology of the Veteran's claimed condition and to obtain a medical opinion regarding its relationship to service.
- Claimed conditions
- arthritis of the left shoulder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 19, 2009
- Citation
- 0910326
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,038 · Granted: 30% (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 0910326.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted higher levels of Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) at rates based on loss of use of both hands and need for regular aid and attendance due to service-connected disabilities.
- Granted
The appeals to reopen the claims of service connection for right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, right upper extremity peripheral neuropathy, left upper extremity peripheral neuropathy, arthritis of the back, arthritis of the joints (other than hips, right shoulder, and neck), and arthritis of the left shoulder are granted.,The appeals to reopen the claims of service connection for arthritis of the neck are denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection of arthritis of the back, bilateral hips, and bilateral shoulders due to lack of evidence showing a nexus between these conditions and his military service. The Board found that the Veteran did not meet the criteria for presumptive service connection based on exposure to herbicide agents or other presumptive diseases.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings of skin cancer excision scars, bilateral hearing loss, and multiple noncompensable disabilities are dismissed. The Board also remanded the Veteran's claim for an initial compensable rating for service-connected hypertension, as well as his claims for arthritis of various joints.
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