The Board has determined that additional examinations are necessary to address the Veteran's service-connected disabilities and their current severity, as well as to determine the nature and etiology of his headaches and bilateral hearing loss. The issues have been remanded for these purposes.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations did not comply with the holding in Sharp v. Shulkin (2017) regarding functional impact due to flare-ups, and the opinions on service connection were inadequate as they combined causation and aggravation without separate findings and explanations.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar strain, cervical spondylosis, residuals of fracture of right humerus with atrophy of muscles of arm, residuals of fracture of right ulna with atrophy of forearm muscles, left elbow strain, glenohumeral joint arthritis right (dominant) shoulder, left acromioclavicular osteoarthritis, headaches, bilateral hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2024
- Citation
- 24001731
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,249 · Granted: 37% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 24001731.
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's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
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