The Board has ordered a remand due to the inadequacy of the February 2013 VA medical opinion, which did not explain why the Veteran's age at the time of his examination was relevant or why the lack of ongoing chronic treatment for frostbite indicated that the current diagnosis was unrelated to the in-service frostbite.
The deciding factor: The Board found the February 2013 VA medical opinion inadequate and ordered a remand to obtain a new opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of frostbite, arthritis in the left hand
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2020
- Citation
- 20068522
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,680 · Granted: 24% (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 20068522.
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 a dental disability, claimed as loss of teeth, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and remanded the issues of service connection for a right knee disability and residuals of frostbite.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for a right hand disability, to include residuals of frostbite and tenosynovitis, is dismissed due to the appellant's death.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for residuals of frostbite based on the Veteran's credible testimony and a positive medical opinion.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for tinnitus was denied as there is no evidence of a formal or informal claim before May 5, 2017.,Service connection for PTSD and other psychiatric disorders was denied due to lack of verification of in-service stressor.
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