The Board previously denied a higher rating for the Veteran's service-connected right wrist disability. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) has now ruled that the Board should have considered whether to rate the disability under Diagnostic Codes 5307 and/or 5308, which relate to muscle injuries of the forearm and hand. A new examination is needed to make an informed decision.
The deciding factor: The Court found that the Board failed to provide adequate reasons for choosing a specific diagnostic code and ordered a remand to consider other relevant codes.
- Claimed conditions
- Right wrist disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19145991
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,863 · Granted: 26% (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 19145991.
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 withdrew the claims for psychiatric disability and sleep apnea.,Service connection was granted for right lower extremity radiculopathy and left lower extremity radiculopathy secondary to a service-connected back disability, but denied for right wrist disability.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for right elbow, left elbow, right wrist, and left wrist disabilities as there is no current evidence of these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection of bilateral wrist disabilities due to a lack of VA examinations and duty-to-assist errors. The Veteran's complaints include bilateral wrist pain, with right wrist diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of a right wrist disability, finding that there was no evidence to support a link between his current condition and his active duty service.
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