The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for left hand numbness, chronic right ankle pain, and chronic right wrist pain due to a duty-to-assist error regarding the specific dates of Active Duty for Training (ACDUTRA) or Inactive Duty for Training (INACDUTRA).
The deciding factor: The Board found that the VA examination reports were inadequate for adjudication purposes as they did not consider all pertinent evidence, including the Veteran's lay statements and STRs.
- Claimed conditions
- left hand numbness, chronic right ankle pain, chronic right wrist pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 16, 2021
- Citation
- A21020071
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 A21020071.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew their appeals regarding the severance of service connection for right hand numbness and left hand numbness.
- Granted
The Veteran's tinnitus is granted as service connection due to continuity of symptoms since service.,Service connection for bilateral hearing loss is denied because there is no evidence of a current disability within one year of separation from service and the VA examiner found no etiological link between in-service noise exposure and current hearing loss.,The Veteran's frostbite of the bilateral feet is denied as there is no current diagnosis of cold injuries, only peripheral artery disease and lower extremity neuropathy.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims of service connection for various conditions have been remanded due to the need for a Statement of the Case (SOC) addressing her July 2018 Notice of Disagreement.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection and a compensable rating due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including obtaining relevant medical records and examinations.
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