The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for right and left hand disabilities, as well as right and left elbow disabilities, due to insufficient medical opinions provided in previous examinations. The claims are being returned for further evaluation.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners did not provide adequate opinions regarding the etiology of the claimed disabilities or whether they are related to service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Hand Disability, Left Hand Disability, Right Elbow Disability, Left Elbow Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 2, 2022
- Citation
- 22019614
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 22019614.
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 a higher rating for PTSD and dismissed his appeals regarding increased ratings for tinnitus and a right hand disability due to lack of timely filing of Notice of Disagreement.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's current right shoulder disability is not related to service, but the right elbow disability requires further review due to a duty-to-assist error in obtaining an inadequate medical opinion.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the current evidence is insufficient to establish service connection for the Veteran's claimed disabilities, and thus remands the claims for further development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's claims for service connection of a left knee disability, back disability, and left elbow disability must be remanded due to inadequate VA examinations. The Veteran provided lay reports of symptoms but the VA examiners did not consider these reports in their conclusions.
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