The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's neck condition is caused or aggravated by his service-connected bilateral shoulder disabilities.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not provide sufficient rationale for why the Veteran’s neck condition is related to natural age progression and unrelated to his shoulder disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- arthritis of the neck
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19193335
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 19193335.
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 Board dismissed the appeals for service connection of various conditions as they were premature, and denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II and a migraine headache disability.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral flatfoot, arthritis of the neck, PTSD, radiculopathy of both upper extremities, and non-compensable ratings for umbilical hernia and right inguinal hernia.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for tinnitus and remanded the claims for an acquired psychiatric disability, a sleep disorder, type two diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, vertigo, hypertension, migraine headaches, arthritis of various joints, and kidney disease.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for arthritis of the neck, left hip, and bilateral knees due to a lack of a VA examination and opinion regarding the nature and etiology of these conditions. The Veteran claims his current disabilities are secondary to his service-connected peripheral neuropathy of the lower extremities.
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