The Board has decided the rating claims for left shoulder and ankle disabilities, denying them. The psychiatric disorder claim is remanded due to an issue with the in-service stressor verification.
The deciding factor: A new medical opinion is needed regarding the verified in-service stressor of witnessing a fellow soldier's death by hanging.
- Claimed conditions
- Left Shoulder Injury, Left Ankle Strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 2, 2022
- Citation
- 22050111
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 22050111.
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 is granted a TDIU from October 12, 2016 to November 12, 2018 and from January 1, 2019 to July 22, 2019 due to service-connected disabilities preventing him from securing or following any substantially gainful occupation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to errors in verifying the Veteran's periods of active duty for training (ACDUTRA) and inactive duty for training (INACDUTRA), obtaining complete service treatment records, and scheduling a VA examination. The AOJ is required to correct these issues.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of a left ankle disability, finding that there was no evidence of an in-service injury or chronic condition and noting the lack of credible lay statements regarding continuous symptoms since service.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected Persistent Depressive Disorder with Mild Alcohol Use Disorder and his service-connected Right Knee Strain, Left Ankle Strain, and Right Ankle Strain.
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