The Board has remanded the cases due to the need for more contemporaneous examinations to determine the current level of severity of all impairment resulting from service-connected right and left shoulder rotator cuff tear and back disability.
The deciding factor: More contemporary medical evaluations are required to assess the current state of the Veteran's service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- rotator cuff tear, right shoulder, rotator cuff tear, left shoulder, organic disease of the lumbar and thoracic spine; osteoarthritis, lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 22, 2023
- Citation
- 23018047
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 23018047.
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.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's lumbar strain with degenerative disc disease was granted a rating of 40 percent from August 4, 2017, to January 8, 2024, and the claim for a higher rating since January 9, 2024, was denied. The Veteran's TDIU effective date was granted as of July 3, 2020.
- Granted
The Board granted a 30 percent rating for the Veteran's rotator cuff tear, right shoulder, effective May 19, 2022.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for TDIU prior to May 7, 2020, finding that his service-connected disabilities do not prevent him from obtaining or retaining substantially gainful employment.
- Granted
The Veteran's rotator cuff tear, right shoulder, status post-surgical repair is granted as service connected. The Board found the evidence in equipoise and thus concluded that the condition is related to his in-service shoulder pain.
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