The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to insufficient opinions provided by the VA examiners. The issues include bilateral shoulder disability, right hand joint pain, bilateral elbow and knee pain, cervical spine disability, renal cell carcinoma, neuropathy of lower extremities, osteoarthritis of left hand ring finger, hypertension, hiatal hernia with GERD, atopic dermatitis, migraine headaches, and bilateral condylar flattening indicative of degenerative joint disease of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
The deciding factor: The VA examiners did not provide sufficient opinions regarding whether the Veteran's conditions are related to his active service or if they were aggravated by pre-existing conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral shoulder disability, right hand joint pain, bilateral elbow joint pain, right knee joint pain, cervical spine disability, renal cell carcinoma status-post partial nephrectomy, neuropathy, left lower extremity associated with calcaneal spurs, left foot, neuropathy, right lower extremity associated with calcaneal spurs, left foot, osteoarthritis, left hand ring finger, hypertension, hiatal hernia with gastroesophageal reflux (GERD), atopic dermatitis, migraine headaches, bilateral condylar flattening indicative of degenerative joint disease of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 15, 2019
- Citation
- 19103738
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,893 · Granted: 31% (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 19103738.
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)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a bilateral shoulder disability and increased ratings for her bilateral knee disabilities, finding no evidence of in-service injury or disease related to these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations.
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