The Veteran's appeals regarding increased ratings for osteoarthritis of the right thumb and traumatic arthritis lumbar spine are being remanded to obtain additional medical records.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on the need to obtain updated treatment records from relevant VA facilities.
- Claimed conditions
- osteoarthritis of the right thumb, traumatic arthritis lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20046874
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 20046874.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied a compensable rating for osteoarthritis of the right little finger and a rating in excess of 10 percent for osteoarthritis of the right thumb, finding that the Veteran's conditions did not meet the criteria for higher ratings.
- Granted
The Veteran's claims for an earlier effective date of July 27, 2016, for the award of service connection for osteoarthritis of the right and left thumbs are granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is being remanded to obtain additional medical records from private providers and VA facilities. The specific conditions at issue are L5-S1 spondylosis and traumatic arthritis of the lumbar spine, which have been rated based on their severity prior to October 27, 2020, and since that date.
- Granted
The Veteran's osteoarthritis of the right thumb is now rated at 20 percent effective July 25, 2017.
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