The Veteran's appeal is being remanded to obtain additional medical records and provide him with a new VA examination to assess his bilateral shoulder disorder and lumbar spine disability.
The deciding factor: The claims are being remanded due to the need for additional evidence and an updated examination to determine if service connection can be established and whether increased ratings should be granted.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) of the bilateral shoulders, Lumbar Spine DJD
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 28, 2015
- Citation
- 1503952
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 1503952.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is being remanded due to a duty to assist error. The VA needs to obtain examination reports and determine if the service-connected conditions meet the criteria for specially adapted housing and special home adaptation grant.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for higher initial ratings for service-connected DJD of the right and left shoulders are remanded due to insufficient examination findings. The claim for an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for service-connected DJD of the bilateral shoulders from July 3, 1997 to June 30, 2015 is also remanded.
- Granted
The Veteran's DJD of the bilateral shoulders is granted service connection. The Veteran's DJD of the lumbar spine is granted a rating of 20 percent as of July 3, 2014.
- Denied
The Board found no evidence of a chronic shoulder disorder in service or continuity of symptoms thereafter, and there is no competent medical evidence linking the current DJD to service. Therefore, service connection for DJD of the bilateral shoulders was denied.
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