The Board remands the claims for service connection for a right thumb disorder, left thumb disorder, and residuals of facial reconstructive surgery due to insufficient evidence regarding their relationship to the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine disability with radiculopathy.
The deciding factor: A detailed statement from the Veteran regarding his facial injury is required, along with adequate medical opinions on the thumb disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- right thumb disorder, left thumb disorder, residuals of facial reconstructive surgery
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 9, 2024
- Citation
- 24031638
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for left shoulder, left wrist, right wrist, left thumb, and right thumb disorders due to the lack of evidence showing current disabilities. The appeal for a right eye vision disorder was dismissed as untimely.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a right thumb disorder, including as secondary to the service-connected right finger disability, based on evidence showing no in-service injury or disease and no nexus between the current condition and active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issues for further development, specifically to obtain treatment records from VISTA imaging and ensure compliance with previous remand directives.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a back condition, right thumb disorder, pes planus, PTSD, and an acquired psychiatric disorder other than PTSD as there was no evidence of a current diagnosis during or approximate to the appeal period. The claims for a headache disorder and plantar warts were remanded.
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