The Board has remanded the claim for a new VA examination to assess the current severity of the Veteran's left middle finger disability, as there was no clear indication regarding how symptoms affect overall hand functioning.
The deciding factor: There is insufficient clinical findings from the previous VA examination to determine the current severity and functional impact of the Veteran's left middle finger disability.
- Claimed conditions
- left middle finger disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 30, 2020
- Citation
- 20081745
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,196 · Granted: 17% (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 20081745.
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 service connection for left middle finger, right hand (including right middle finger), left arm, and upper back disabilities due to a lack of evidence linking these conditions to the Veteran's active military service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome, and disabilities affecting each finger as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions began during active service or are otherwise related to an in-service injury or disease, including exposure to toxic exposure risk activities (TERAs).
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of April 19, 2020, but no earlier, for the establishment of service connection for a left wrist disability, a left shoulder disability, and right elbow disabilities (based on limitation of flexion and supination/pronation), while denying such claims for other foot and finger conditions.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal regarding service connection for each of the left fingers, and the Board has dismissed these claims.
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