The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to insufficient evidence and need for further examination. The issues are related to arthritis and chronic body pain in various joints, but the appeal is not about service connection via a presumption like PACT Act or Agent Orange.
The deciding factor: Further development of the record and an additional VA examination are required as the current evidence does not provide sufficient information to determine if the Veteran's conditions are related to his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- arthritis, chronic body pain, bilateral hand degenerative arthritis, Game Keeper thumb, bilateral elbow degenerative arthritis, bilateral shoulder degenerative arthritis, bilateral chronic wrist strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 18, 2020
- Citation
- 20080103
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,249 · Granted: 37% (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 20080103.
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 the Veteran's claims for service connection for tinnitus, arthritis, and memory loss. The decision found no evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and entitlement to DIC due to a failure to obtain a medical opinion prior to the rating decision on appeal regarding whether the Veteran's arthritis was related to his period of active service, and if so, whether it contributed to his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional examinations and opinions regarding his diagnosed conditions, including mental health disorders, gastrointestinal issues, respiratory problems, arthritis, neuropathy, sleep apnea, erectile dysfunction, and headaches. The examination will also address whether any of these conditions were caused or aggravated by his service-connected diabetes mellitus.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension and acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as a sleep deprivation condition) have been granted service connection. The claim for arthritis has been remanded.
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