The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for higher initial ratings and a greater rating for his service-connected laceration disabilities of the left middle and ring fingers, as well as scars on those fingers. A new VA examination is needed to address the current severity of these conditions.
The deciding factor: The January 2020 VA examination was inadequate due to confusion between the Veteran's left and right hands, and a need for clarification regarding his service-connected disabilities and their impact on his daily activities.
- Claimed conditions
- laceration of the distal phalanx of the left middle finger, laceration of the distal phalanx of the left ring finger
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20069888
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,044 · Granted: 21% (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 20069888.
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 Veteran's claims for higher initial ratings and a greater rating for painful scars of the left middle and ring fingers are being remanded due to incomplete development. The VA examiner is requested to provide an addendum opinion regarding the etiology of his arthritis, which may be related to service-connected scars.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for initial compensable evaluations and a rating greater than 10 percent for his service-connected lacerations of the left middle and ring fingers are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including obtaining x-rays and scheduling an examination.
- 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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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