The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims due to inadequate opinions regarding his gastrointestinal disability and other conditions. The case is now pending for further development.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not provide a clear opinion on whether any of the Veteran's symptoms are attributable to diagnosed illnesses or if they have a known onset during service.
- Claimed conditions
- Elbow disability, Bilateral hand disability, Bilateral foot disability, Gastrointestinal disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 18, 2017
- Citation
- 1758533
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 1758533.
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)
New and relevant evidence has been received, including medical opinions from Dr. D.W. regarding the acquired psychiatric disorder and from Dr. G.S. regarding the bilateral foot disability and hypertension. The AOJ will readjudicate these claims.,The AOJ will also readjudicate the issue of entitlement to service connection for a bilateral foot disability based on new evidence submitted by the Claimant.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and remanded the issue of service connection for bilateral foot disability due to burn pit exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to errors in the duty to assist and insufficient opinions regarding service connection for a gastrointestinal disability. The Veteran's symptoms include epigastric burning, regurgitation, nausea without vomiting, persistently recurrent epigastric distress, reflux, substernal pain, sleep disturbance caused by esophageal reflux, diarrhea, dysphagia, Barrett's esophagus, and esophagitis.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for a gastrointestinal disability, finding that his current condition is at least as likely as not related to his active military service.
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