The Board has remanded the claim of entitlement to service connection for bilateral shoulder disabilities, including as secondary to a cervical spine and/or low back disability due to incomplete rationale in the medical opinions provided.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's opinions were not based on an accurate review of the Veteran’s medical history and did not fully address the issue of secondary service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral shoulder disabilities
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 6, 2019
- Citation
- A19002615
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,863 · Granted: 26% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 A19002615.
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 Veteran is granted an effective date of June 22, 2019 for the award of special monthly compensation (SMC) based on the need for regular aid and attendance due to his service-connected disabilities.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), finding that it is related to her service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and bilateral shoulder disabilities.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection for bilateral knee disabilities, bilateral lower extremity nerve disabilities, and bilateral shoulder disabilities was dismissed because the appeal was not filed within one year of the August 8, 2024 rating decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's lung disability and sinusitis claims are denied as there is no current diagnosis.,The deferred right foot disability claim is dismissed due to a premature Notice of Disagreement.,Heart and diabetes mellitus claims are remanded for additional etiology opinions regarding herbicide exposure.,Allergic rhinitis and bilateral shoulder disabilities claims are remanded for new etiology opinions considering toxic exposure risk activities (TERA).
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