The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for cervical spine disability, sinus disability, and headache disability due to inadequate VA examination reports. The Veteran must be provided with adequate VA opinions regarding the etiology of his disabilities.
The deciding factor: The previous VA examinations were deemed insufficient as they did not consider the Veteran’s competent reports of symptom onset during service.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical spine disability, sinus disability, headache disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19104886
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 a 20 percent disability rating for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy from April 3, 2023 onward, but denied higher ratings prior to that date. Service connection was also granted for alcohol use disorder as secondary to PTSD with traumatic brain injury.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeals for service connection for a bilateral knee disability, bilateral upper and lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, lumbar spine disability, cervical spine disability, and chronic pain syndrome due to untimely notices of disagreement.
- 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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a cervical spine disability to obtain an addendum medical opinion addressing the Veteran's in-service treatment for pack palsy with residual weakness.
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