The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for joint hypermobility, left ankle disability, and left shoulder disability due to inadequate examination reports. The Veteran is seeking service connection for these conditions on a direct basis.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations did not provide adequate rationale for their opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's claimed disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Joint hypermobility, Left ankle sprain with repair and imbrication of left lateral ankle ligaments, Left shoulder strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20004711
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,077 · Granted: 25% (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 20004711.
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-connected conditions leave her in need of regular aid and attendance, which is granted for special monthly compensation (SMC) based on the need for regular aid and attendance.
- Granted
The Veteran's TDIU claim is granted from April 26, 2018 to April 18, 2021. Service connection for toe fungus and left shoulder condition are granted. Service connection for neck condition is also granted.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for eligibility for specially adapted housing and special home adaptation grant was denied as he does not meet the criteria for a qualifying total service-connected disability rating or loss of use of lower extremities.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for SMC at the A&A rate was denied as his service-connected disabilities did not result in a need for regular aid and attendance.
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