The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection and rating of his back disability due to insufficient evidence regarding the nature and etiology of his left hand condition, as well as the severity of his lumbar spine disability. The Veteran is required to undergo additional examinations to address these issues.
The deciding factor: The Board found that further examination was necessary to determine the current nature and severity of the Veteran's back disability and to ascertain whether any left hand condition had its onset in or is otherwise etiologically related to active service.
- Claimed conditions
- left hand condition
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 3, 2020
- Citation
- 20000392
Veterans Law Judge
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 20000392.
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 Veteran's service connection claims for left elbow, hand, and knee conditions related to gout have been granted. The claim for a left hip condition has been denied due to lack of current disability evidence. Service connection for the left shoulder condition is also denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for lumbosacral spine condition, left wrist condition, and left hand condition due to pre-decisional errors in obtaining evidence and developing his claims.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for low back condition, left hand condition, diabetes mellitus type II, hypertension, and pseudofolliculitis barbae. The Board found that there is no evidence of a continuity of symptoms since service or a nexus to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection are remanded due to the PACT Act requiring a TERA-specific examination and secondary service connection evaluations.
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