The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for left lower extremity joint pain, headaches, and sleep disorder due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology. The Veteran is presumed exposed to environmental hazards in Southwest Asia during her service.
The deciding factor: Insufficient medical opinions regarding the nature and etiology of the Veteran’s claimed disabilities have been provided.
- Claimed conditions
- left lower extremity joint pain, headaches, sleep disorder (including sleep apnea)
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19102793
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for headaches and increased ratings for left shoulder rotator cuff tear, right shoulder rotator cuff tear, hypertension, and left and right leg restless leg syndrome. The Board denied a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss and an initial rating in excess of 70 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for an increased initial disability evaluation of headaches due to an inadequate VA examination.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple disabilities, including cervical spine and thoracolumbar spine disabilities, radiculopathies, a bladder disability, headaches, a left knee disability, an acquired psychiatric disorder, and bilateral conjunctivitis. The Board also granted entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disability.
- Dismissed
The appeals for restoration of ratings and for a higher disability rating were dismissed as the April 2025 rating decision did not make final decisions on these issues.
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