The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his right elbow disabilities are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including a new VA examination and consideration of recent x-rays provided by the Veteran.
The deciding factor: The Board requires further evaluation of the Veteran's right elbow disabilities due to the need for compliance with recent legal precedents regarding musculoskeletal examinations and the inclusion of pain in range of motion assessments.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease of the Right Elbow
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 17, 2017
- Citation
- 1746188
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 1746188.
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.
- Denied
The Board found that the reduction of the disability rating for the service-connected degenerative joint disease of the right elbow from 20 percent to 10 percent was proper, effective September 8, 2016.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings due to insufficient examination findings and conflicting information regarding functional loss.
- Denied
The Veteran's initial disability ratings for various conditions, including cervical spine disability and atrial fibrillation, were denied. The right shoulder bursitis, right elbow disability, crush injuries to the left hand digits, and right knee medial meniscus tear received compensable disability ratings.
- Granted
The Veteran's degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine, left shoulder, right shoulder, elbow, ankle, hip, and knee have been granted initial ratings from November 1, 2011 to March 25, 2018. The rating for the lumbar spine was increased to 20% effective March 26, 2018.
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