The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for a left shoulder disability and obstructive sleep apnea due to potential issues with medical opinions and missing VA treatment records.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on procedural issues related to incomplete medical records and lack of nexus opinions, which require further examination and opinion-gathering.
- Claimed conditions
- left shoulder joint pain, left shoulder arthralgia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 20, 2020
- Citation
- 20020712
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 20020712.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for left shoulder joint pain and right hip joint pain due to a lack of medical evidence on file, as required by McLendon v. Nicholson (2006).
- Partly granted
The Board denied higher ratings for left shoulder arthralgia and lumbar spine degenerative arthritis with DDD, granted service connection for right and left lower extremity radiculopathy as secondary to the lumbar spine disability, and remanded claims for increased ratings of other musculoskeletal conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for left ankle joint pain, right ankle joint pain, left hip joint pain, left shoulder joint pain, right shoulder joint pain, and tinnitus to correct pre-decisional errors in the duty to assist.
- Granted
The Veteran's lumbar osteoarthritis is granted as secondary to service-connected lumbar strain. The right shoulder tendinitis and bursitis are denied due to lack of evidence linking it to the service-connected conditions.
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