The Board has determined that additional development is needed to determine the nature and etiology of any current right thumb disability and head injury residuals. The Veteran's service records indicate a history of a right thumb fracture in 1968, but no subsequent complaints or treatment for this condition until February 2008. For his head injury, there are conflicting reports from the Veteran regarding when it occurred (late December 1966 to January 1967), and VA has requested additional information from NARA. The Board will remand these issues for further development.
The deciding factor: The claims file is insufficient to determine the nature and etiology of any current right thumb disability or head injury residuals, as there are conflicting reports regarding when these conditions may have occurred during service and no contemporaneous treatment records exist.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Thumb Disability, Residuals of Head Injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 16, 2013
- Citation
- 1341310
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 1341310.
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's appeals for a compensable evaluation for a right thumb disability and TDIU prior to October 13, 2016 have been dismissed due to the finality of previous decisions by the Board and the Court.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for increased ratings of his acquired psychiatric, cervical spine, lumbar spine, right thumb, right index finger, and right long finger disabilities.
- Granted
The Veteran's right thumb disability, scar, and hearing loss have been granted service connection with effective dates of September 9, 2024.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have any of the claimed disabilities and therefore, service connection for right thumb, left thumb, right index finger, left index finger, right middle finger, left middle finger, right ring finger, left ring finger, right small finger, or left small finger disabilities is denied.
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