The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for residuals of a left hand injury and bilateral knee conditions due to incomplete medical records.
The deciding factor: Incomplete medical records from private providers are needed to determine if there were any in-service or post-service events that may have caused the Veteran's current disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis of the left hand, Bilateral degenerative arthritis of the knees
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 23, 2019
- Citation
- 19156966
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 19156966.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for all claimed conditions as there was no evidence of a current disability, in-service incurrence or aggravation, and no nexus between the current disabilities and military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, a cervical spine disorder, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and bilateral degenerative arthritis of the knees to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Granted
The Veteran's claims for service connection have been granted, and he is now rated at a 10% disability evaluation for his degenerative arthritis of the right hand and left hand, as well as carpal tunnel syndrome in both upper extremities. The rating for his right ear hearing loss remains noncompensable.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to inconsistencies in the medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's left hand degenerative arthritis. The Veteran is seeking service connection for this condition, which he attributes to his service-connected knee and back disabilities.
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