The appeal is remanded to the RO for further development and consideration of the claims, including an examination regarding the impact of medication side-effects on employability.
The deciding factor: The Board did not adequately discuss the appropriateness of referring the initial rating issue for extraschedular consideration and did not adequately discuss whether the Veteran had been rendered unable to gainfully work.
- Claimed conditions
- intercostal neuralgia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 27, 2009
- Citation
- 0911538
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 832 · Granted: 18% (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 0911538.
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 was granted service connection for pneumothorax with an effective date of December 30, 2021.,Service connection for intercostal neuralgia was also granted with the same effective date.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to new evidence and need for further examination, including on intercostal neuralgia and upper extremity impairment.
- Granted
The Veteran's nerve damage of the left upper extremity, which includes intercostal neuralgia, is related to his service-connected residuals of lung cancer and thus service connection is granted.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's intercostal neuralgia and hypertension are adequately compensated under applicable schedular rating criteria. The acquired psychiatric disorder is not service-connected.
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