The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for right and left shoulder disabilities due to conflicting evidence regarding their onset during or relation to service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran’s statements about shoulder problems since the 1980s were inconsistent with his service records, which noted no shoulder issues. The Board also requested an addendum opinion on whether the bilateral shoulder disabilities are aggravated by service-connected back and lower extremity radiculopathy.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Shoulder Impingement Syndrome, Left Shoulder Impingement Syndrome, Status Post Arthroscopy of the Left Shoulder with Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Debridement, Partial Synovectomy, Arthroscopic Subacromial Decompression, and Acromioplasty
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 23, 2020
- Citation
- 20080913
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,990 · Granted: 35% (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 20080913.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a right shoulder disability, finding that the Veteran's current symptoms are related to his in-service injury.
- Granted
The Veteran's right shoulder disorder was denied service connection initially, but new evidence received after the March 2008 rating decision is relevant to this issue. The Board finds that a current diagnosis for right shoulder impingement syndrome exists and that it did not have its onset during service or otherwise be related to service.
- Denied
The Veteran was granted service connection for various conditions, but the appeal regarding an earlier effective date for benefits under the VA PCAFC related to a June 2023 application is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the VA examinations and opinions provided do not comply with the remand directives. Therefore, another remand is necessary to obtain the requested retrospective estimates for the Veteran's right shoulder and lumbar spine disabilities.
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