The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral wrist and right ankle disabilities due to inadequate VA examination opinions. The Veteran is presumed competent to report her symptoms, but the prior examinations did not consider her lay statements or medical history.
The deciding factor: The prior VA examinations were insufficient as they did not address the Veteran's lay statements regarding her symptoms and medical history.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral wrist ganglion cysts, Bilateral wrist degenerative arthritis, Right Achilles' tendon rupture
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 15, 2023
- Citation
- 23051155
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 23051155.
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 remanded the case due to inadequate examination and failure to explain why a higher rating is not warranted. A new VA ankle examination is required that fully complies with Correia v. McDonald, addressing range of motion on active and passive motion, or in weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected musculoligamentous strain, right knee, is currently rated at 10 percent and the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.
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