The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate examination and lack of substantial compliance with previous remand orders. The Veteran's claim for service connection for residuals of breast reduction surgery is being returned for further development.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner failed to provide a clear opinion regarding whether the Veteran’s current complaints are related to her in-service breast reduction surgery, and did not address whether the symptoms predated enlistment.
- Claimed conditions
- breast pain, tenderness, numbness
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 9, 2020
- Citation
- 20001766
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,886 · Granted: 24% (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 20001766.
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 disability of numbness, tingling, and pain in the left lower extremity is granted as service connected.
- Granted
The Veteran's radiculopathy of the left and right lower extremities have been granted initial ratings of 20 percent each, effective April 19, 2023.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal has been withdrawn due to his request for withdrawal of the appeal, and thus the case is dismissed.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a left-hand disability, to include numbness and degenerative arthritis, as the VA examination provided is found inadequate.
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