The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for bilateral shoulder and knee joint pain as they are not adequately addressed by the May 2017 VA examination. Additional medical opinions are needed to determine if the current diagnoses are related to service.
The deciding factor: The May 2017 VA examiner did not provide a fact-based rationale for his conclusions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's current bilateral shoulder and knee joint pain complaints, nor whether they were due to an undiagnosed illness or medically unexplained chronic multi-symptom illness.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral shoulder joint pain, bilateral knee joint pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 13, 2019
- Citation
- 19145641
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal requests for the specified rating decisions were denied as they were not timely filed, and good cause was not shown to accept late filings.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeals for service connection for bilateral knee joint pain and bilateral wrist joint pain as there was no appealable decision in the August 2023 rating decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded several issues for further development, including service connection claims and a claim under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 due to complications from back surgery.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, effective from the date of the February 2025 rating decision.
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