The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for joint pain, cervical spine condition, lumbar spine condition, right and left shoulder conditions, right and left elbow conditions, and bilateral knee conditions due to incomplete examinations. The Veteran's claim for residuals of a shrapnel wound is also remanded.
The deciding factor: Incomplete examination reports make it impossible to determine the nature and etiology of the Veteran's disabilities without resorting to mere speculation.
- Claimed conditions
- Joint Pain, Cervical Spine Condition, Lumbar Spine Condition, Right Shoulder Condition, Left Shoulder Condition, Right Elbow Condition, Left Elbow Condition, Left Knee Condition, Right Knee Condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19112855
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,614 · Granted: 35% (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 19112855.
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 Board has granted service connection for bilateral knee conditions, finding that the Veteran's current knee conditions are more likely than not related to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a left shoulder condition, finding that there was no evidence of an in-service injury or disease and insufficient medical evidence to establish a nexus between any current disability and service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have a current right shoulder condition or neck condition, and therefore service connection for these conditions is denied. The claims of service connection for a neck condition as secondary to a service-connected right wrist condition and for bilateral hearing loss are remanded due to insufficient evidence.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the most recent rating decision on the merits, issued in October 2024, requires correction due to pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors. The claim for service connection for a right knee condition is being remanded.
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