The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for left and right shoulder conditions due to inadequate medical opinions. Further development is needed to obtain an adequate opinion based on the Veteran's reports of in-service injuries.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not provide a sufficient rationale or comply with the previous remand directives, thus further development is required.
- Claimed conditions
- left shoulder arthralgia, right shoulder arthralgia, rotator cuff tendinitis (both shoulders), degenerative changes (both shoulders)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 17, 2023
- Citation
- 23002861
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 23002861.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that new and relevant evidence related to the Veteran's claim for entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss has been received since the May 2023 rating decision. The claims of increased ratings for cervical spine strain, right shoulder arthralgia, right knee arthralgia based on limitation of flexion, left knee arthralgia based on limitation of flexion, and entitlement to a 40 percent rating, but no higher, for right knee arthralgia based on limitation of extension from October 28, 2024 to February 25, 2025 are remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for left elbow, cervical strain, left glenohumeral joint osteoarthritis, and right shoulder arthralgia due to a lack of VA examination or treatment records.
- Partly granted
The Board denied higher ratings for left shoulder arthralgia and lumbar spine degenerative arthritis with DDD, granted service connection for right and left lower extremity radiculopathy as secondary to the lumbar spine disability, and remanded claims for increased ratings of other musculoskeletal conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran's cervical spine, left shoulder osteoarthritis, right shoulder arthralgia, bilateral hip limitation of flexion and extension, bilateral knee limitation of flexion and extension, and bilateral ankle arthralgia have been granted service connection with effective dates starting from January 17, 2013.
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