The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper extremities and peripheral vascular disease of the bilateral lower extremities due to outstanding private treatment records not being obtained prior to adjudication.
The deciding factor: The Board found that VA had a duty to assist in obtaining relevant private treatment records related to the Veteran's claims, which were not obtained before the July 2022 rating decision.
- Claimed conditions
- right upper extremity (RUE) peripheral neuropathy, left upper extremity (LUE) peripheral neuropathy, right lower extremity (RLE) peripheral vascular disease, left lower extremity (LLE) peripheral vascular disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 8, 2023
- Citation
- A23031469
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 A23031469.
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's SMC(l) was granted based on his service-connected prostate cancer, metastatic cancer of the back, ribs, and pelvis, and metastatic cancer of the lymphatic system. The Board found that he has additional disabilities independently ratable at 50 percent or more, including RUE peripheral neuropathy, diabetes with erectile dysfunction, LLE peripheral neuropathy, sciatic nerve, RLE peripheral neuropathy, femoral nerve, left knee arthritis, right knee arthritis, and right clavicle fracture residuals. The Veteran is now entitled to SMC(m 1/2) based on these additional disabilities.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral lower and upper extremity peripheral neuropathy, finding no current diagnosis of these conditions in the record.
- Denied
The Veteran's service connection claims for various conditions were denied. A rating of 100 percent was granted for schizophrenia, effective October 28, 2019.
- Granted
The Veteran's heart conditions, including CAD, MI, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, supraventricular arrhythmia, and CABG are granted as presumed due to herbicide exposure. DM is also granted. Peripheral neuropathy of the LLE, RLE, LUE, and RUE is granted secondary to DM.
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