The Veteran's claims for service connection for left-hand and bilateral foot skin disabilities have been reopened, but the Board has determined that additional evidence is needed to decide these claims.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions are inadequate due to lack of rationale, necessitating further examination and opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- left-hand skin disability, bilateral foot skin disability
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19190124
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,902 · Granted: 11% (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 19190124.
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 claim for service connection for migraine headaches was dismissed as there is no issue of fact or law for the Board to decide.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that there was not substantial compliance with its prior remand and thus requires further development for the Veteran's claims of service connection for left-hand skin disability and bilateral foot skin disability.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for sleep apnea and denied service connection for left arm disability, prostate disability, and left-hand skin disability. The Veteran's sleep apnea is found to be aggravated by his service-connected PTSD. His left arm disability, prostate disability, and left-hand skin disability are not found to have onset during service or otherwise related to such service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for a left-hand skin disability and bilateral foot skin disability due to inadequate medical opinions in the prior remand. The VA is required to obtain new medical opinions addressing the etiology of these disabilities, particularly whether they are related to exposure to murky water during field exercises.
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