The Veteran's anxiety and left shoulder disability are granted, but the lumbar spine disability requires further examination to determine its severity. The service connection for these conditions is determined based on direct evidence.
The deciding factor: The claims were remanded due to inadequate examinations that did not consider all relevant symptoms and medical records.
- Claimed conditions
- Anxiety, Left Shoulder Disability, Lumbar Spine Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 7, 2020
- Citation
- 20000969
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a heart disability, to include coronary artery disease (CAD), as secondary to the Veteran's anxiety and assigned a 70 percent rating from April 29, 2025. The Board also granted an initial 30 percent rating prior to that date.
- Denied
The Board denied the claims for service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome, a low back disability, a left knee disability, and a left shoulder disability as there was no evidence to support that these conditions were incurred in or caused by the Veteran's military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's appeal for a higher rating for his lumbar spine disability, both before and after November 8, 2024.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, while remanding claims for depression, anxiety, sleep disorder, right knee strain, left knee strain, and lumbar spine strain.
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