The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for additional development to obtain relevant service records and provide new medical opinions regarding his right hand and bilateral foot disabilities.
The deciding factor: The Board found that additional evidence was needed to properly assess the Veteran's current diagnoses and their relationship to his in-service injuries.
- Claimed conditions
- Right hand arthritis, Bilateral foot metatarsalgia, Bilateral foot arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 28, 2021
- Citation
- 21025708
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 21025708.
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 Veteran's degenerative arthritis of the spine and lumbosacral strain are granted an increased rating to 40 percent, effective July 20, 2014. The Veteran's bilateral foot arthritis is granted increased ratings to 30 percent each, effective August 20, 2018.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a duty to assist error and insufficient medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's right hand disorder.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for PTSD and eating disorder, but denied service connection for right hand arthritis, left hand arthritis, nerve damage in the neck, nerve damage in the right shoulder, nerve damage in the left shoulder, bronchitis, a gynecological disability, and non-compensable ratings for allergic rhinitis and chronic sinusitis.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for GERD, right hand arthritis, right wrist arthritis and CMC, and joint pain (other than right hand, right wrist, and bilateral knees), all claimed as due to the Veteran's Gulf War service.
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