The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for a right shoulder condition and back condition due to insufficient evidence in the record.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not consider the Veteran’s statements regarding onset of symptoms since service, which is required by law when lay evidence is provided.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Shoulder Degenerative Arthritis, Back Condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 30, 2020
- Citation
- 20076004
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 20076004.
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 August 1996 rating decision denied service connection for a back condition due to the claim being considered not well-grounded, as there was no current disability and no evidence of in-service injury or disease.
- Denied
The Veteran's appeal for an increased rating for his right shoulder disability and scar was denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on limitation of motion or other criteria.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found a pre-decisional duty-to-assist error in the VA examination for service connection of the back condition and requires an addendum opinion to address whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's back disability began in service or was caused by any incident of service.
- Granted
The Board has granted effective dates of August 12, 2024 for the awards of a 50% rating for sinusitis and a 40% rating for intervertebral disc syndrome of the lumbar spine. Service connection for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy of the sciatic nerve was also granted effective on that date.
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