The Board has remanded the cases for further examination and opinion regarding service connection for cervical spine, headaches, left hand, and right hand conditions. The effective dates for increased ratings for neuritis of the lower extremities remain unchanged.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the VA examiner's opinions were inadequate due to lack of medical rationale provided in relation to secondary service connection claims.
- Claimed conditions
- Neuritis of left lower extremity, Neuritis of right lower extremity, Cervical spine condition, Headaches, Left hand condition, Right hand condition
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 6, 2020
- Citation
- 20064800
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,604 · Granted: 65% (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 20064800.
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 denied the Veteran's claims for initial compensable ratings for obstructive sleep apnea and headaches, finding that the evidence does not support a finding of persistent daytime hypersomnolence or other manifestations consistent with a compensable disability rating under the criteria established by Diagnostic Codes. The matter is remanded to obtain additional information from the Veteran regarding his headaches and their impact on his daily life.
- Granted
The Veteran's OSA is granted as secondary to PTSD, but his headaches are denied due to lack of service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for cervical spine condition and left shoulder condition due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error, as VA failed to provide the Veteran with VA examinations and medical opinions to assess the nature and etiology of his conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran's headaches, which manifested as very frequent and prolonged attacks causing severe economic inadaptability, are granted a 50 percent disability rating for the entire period on appeal.
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