The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for cold injury residuals of his right and left hands due to a duty to assist error in obtaining missing service records. The Veteran is entitled to an examination to determine if he currently has residuals from cold injuries, and any etiology.
The deciding factor: The Board found that VA did not meet its heightened duty to assist the Veteran by failing to provide complete information for the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in obtaining his service records. The Veteran is entitled to an examination to determine if he currently has residuals from cold injuries, and any etiology.
- Claimed conditions
- right hand cold injury residuals, left hand cold injury residuals
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 5, 2019
- Citation
- A19003351
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 A19003351.
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.
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The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for left and right hand cold injury residuals due to an inadequate examination in a previous decision.
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