The Veteran's appeal is remanded for further development, including obtaining updated medical records and arranging a neurological examination to assess the severity of his radiculopathy. The effective date for service connection remains June 8, 2018.
The deciding factor: Further development is needed due to discrepancies in the severity assessment of the Veteran's radiculopathy as determined by different examiners.
- Claimed conditions
- radiculopathy of the right upper extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 17, 2019
- Citation
- 19178894
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 the Veteran's claim for eligibility for assistance in acquiring specially adapted housing or special home adaptation grant as he does not have a permanent and total service-connected disability that meets the criteria.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for cervical strain with degenerative arthritis and IVDS, radiculopathy of the left and right upper extremities, but denied service connection for left knee strain with shin splints, thoracolumbar strain with IVDS, left shoulder disability to include shoulder strain with impingement syndrome and rotator cuff tendonitis, right shoulder disability to include shoulder strain with impingement syndrome and rotator cuff tendonitis with calcific tendinitis, and tinnitus.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for fatigue, traumatic brain injury (TBI), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), left wrist disability, cervical spine disability, radiculopathy of the right upper extremity, and radiculopathy of the left upper extremity as there was no evidence to support a current diagnosis or that these conditions were related to service.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for cervical spine, lumbar spine, right knee, and left knee disabilities, as well as radiculopathy of the upper and lower extremities and an insomnia disorder. However, it denied service connection for instability of the left knee and a disability rating in excess of 10 percent for tinnitus.
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