The Veteran's service connection claims for various foot, knee, and shoulder disabilities are being remanded due to insufficient examination reports. The examiner failed to provide a clear opinion regarding the etiology of his conditions and did not address all relevant issues.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners provided incomplete or speculative opinions without addressing all pertinent evidence and findings in the claims file.
- Claimed conditions
- Right wrist disability, Right shoulder disability, Residuals of broken fingers, Residuals of right and left thumb injuries, Bilateral feet other than Haglund's deformity, Haglund's deformity of left heel, Haglund's deformity of right heel, Bilateral knees
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 18, 2023
- Citation
- 23016526
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 23016526.
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 the claims for psychiatric disability and sleep apnea.,Service connection was granted for right lower extremity radiculopathy and left lower extremity radiculopathy secondary to a service-connected back disability, but denied for right wrist disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for a right shoulder disability and remanded the case for further action on heart disability. The decision regarding right shoulder disability is that it was not incurred in or aggravated by service.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for right elbow, left elbow, right wrist, and left wrist disabilities as there is no current evidence of these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for various disabilities, including low back, left hip, right hip, left shoulder, and right shoulder disabilities. The VA examinations did not provide adequate opinions regarding the etiology of these conditions.
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