The Board has determined that additional development is necessary prior to the adjudication of this claim, including obtaining a VA examination and reviewing all relevant evidence submitted since the last SSOC.
The deciding factor: The May 2009 VA examiner's opinion failed to address whether the Veteran has a diagnosed disability as a result of his active duty service, specifically degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine. The Board finds this issue must be remanded for further examination and analysis.
- Claimed conditions
- neck injury, calcified cyst of the posterior neck
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 25, 2011
- Citation
- 1112074
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 1112074.
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 Board has granted the Veteran's request to recognize his December 17, 2008 correspondence as a timely and valid Notice of Disagreement (NOD) with the November 2008 rating decision. The underlying compensation claims will be addressed in a separate Board decision under the Legacy appeal system.
- Granted
The Veteran's kidney stones, neck injury, asthma, and right leg or knee disability are all granted. The Veteran is also awarded a 30% rating for his neck injury. However, the claims for service connection for asthma and right leg or right knee disabilities are remanded due to lack of proper development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including failure to obtain VA and private medical records related to his hip conditions, neck injury, and right shoulder injury.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the character of the Appellant's discharge is a bar to VA benefits, and thus did not address his service connection claims. The case is being remanded for the AOJ to obtain missing records related to the special court-martial and complete a new determination on the character of the discharge.
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