The Board has denied service connection for traumatic injuries to the right and left hands, finding that there is no evidence linking these conditions to service. The case was remanded for further development regarding the left hand disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no medical opinion linking the Veteran's current diagnoses of osteoarthritis in his hands to his active duty service.
- Claimed conditions
- Traumatic injury of the right hand, Traumatic injury of the left hand
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 1, 2020
- Citation
- 20057762
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 20057762.
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 service connection for both right and left hand disabilities, finding no medical evidence linking the current conditions to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issues of service connection for traumatic injuries to both hands due to a failure to comply with previous remand directives, specifically failing to consider and address the Veteran's lay statements regarding his in-service hand injuries.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a traumatic injury of the left hand, finding that there is no evidence linking the current condition to active service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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