The Board has decided to remand the appellant's claims for service connection due to incomplete records and insufficient medical opinions. Further development is needed to determine if his current thoracolumbar disability and gastrointestinal disabilities are related to his in-service injuries.
The deciding factor: Incomplete service treatment records and inadequate medical opinions regarding the etiology of the veteran's conditions have been identified as reasons for remanding the case.
- Claimed conditions
- thoracolumbar disability (residuals of an in-service lumbar strain), gastrointestinal disability (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel syndrome)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 20, 2019
- Citation
- 19164484
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 19164484.
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 granted a 30 percent rating for ulcerative colitis, finding that the Veteran's symptoms most closely approximate moderately severe ulcerative colitis with frequent exacerbations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of ulcerative colitis to address whether it is secondary to a service-connected disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board granted a request to readjudicate the claim of service connection for ulcerative colitis based on new and relevant evidence, but remanded the issue for further development.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a higher initial rating of 100 percent for ulcerative colitis and denied increased ratings for lumbar paraspinal tendonitis, left knee patellofemoral pain syndrome, and right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome.
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