The Board has remanded the cases for further development and to obtain additional medical opinions regarding the Veteran's claimed conditions, specifically Sjogren’s syndrome and an undifferentiated connective tissue disorder.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the previous VA medical opinions were inadequate and requested addendum opinions to address the deficiencies outlined in the May 2019 remand.
- Claimed conditions
- undifferentiated connective tissue disorder, myositis, Sjogren’s syndrome
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20007312
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 Veteran withdrew the appeal for service connection for myositis, and it has been dismissed.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for myositis, finding no nexus between the condition and either active duty or a service-connected disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection has been reopened, but the Board is remanding several issues including service connection for various back disabilities and peripheral neuropathy.
- Denied
The veteran's lumbosacral disability was found to be manifested by disc protrusion and mild stenosis at L2-3; a small disc protrusion at L4-5 with an annular tear, ligament hypertrophy, and mild stenosis; and a disc osteophyte complex at L5-S1 abutting the nerve root with decreased disc spacing. The Board concluded that the criteria for an increased initial rating were not met.
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