The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for neck, right arm, and shoulder conditions as secondary to his service-connected lower back disability due to insufficient medical opinions addressing whether these conditions are related to his service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion did not adequately address whether the Veteran’s claimed conditions may be aggravated by his service-connected lower back disability.
- Claimed conditions
- neck condition, right arm condition, shoulder condition
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 3, 2019
- Citation
- 19190760
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 19190760.
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 claims for service connection, higher ratings, and earlier effective dates, as well as dismissed his claim for a TDIU.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for various conditions, including a back condition, right and left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy, neck condition, upper extremity radiculopathy, bilateral flatfoot, right foot plantar fasciitis, and right ankle pain, as the current evidence is inadequate to make a decision.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a back condition, neck condition, bilateral hearing loss, and an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include insomnia disorder. The claims for the remaining conditions were remanded.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for migraine headaches as secondary to the Veteran's asthma with sinusitis, but denied service connection for a low back sprain and plantar fasciitis. The claim for a neck condition was dismissed.
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