The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's right elbow disability is related to his service-connected left elbow disability.
The deciding factor: The examiner did not address whether the service-connected left elbow disability aggravated the right elbow in the period before the surgery, and did not consider the Veteran’s reports of using his right elbow to compensate for his left elbow.
- Claimed conditions
- Right elbow disability, Left elbow disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 20, 2020
- Citation
- 20074653
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 remands the issue of entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) for further development and readjudication.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error regarding VA's obligation to obtain relevant records from the Social Security Administration.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the veteran's claimed conditions, including iliotibial band syndrome of the left knee, a cervical spine disability, radiculopathy of the right and left upper extremities, alopecia totalis, a right hip disability, a left hip disability, a right elbow disability, a right shoulder disability, and a left shoulder disability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability other than PTSD, to include major depressive disorder (MDD), and fibromyalgia as secondary to MDD. Service connection was denied for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and various musculoskeletal disabilities.
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