The Veteran's petition to reopen his claim for service connection of a left elbow disability is granted. His claims for secondary service connection of chronic diarrhea and a left hand disability are remanded.
The deciding factor: New evidence received since the final denial supports reopening the Veteran's claim, but the current disabilities do not meet the criteria for service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- left elbow disability, chronic diarrhea, left hand disability
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 17, 2024
- Citation
- 24031889
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 837 · Granted: 24% (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 24031889.
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 withdrew their appeal for service connection for anxiety, sinusitis, a cervical spine disability, a left elbow disability, and a right hip disability.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for a compensable rating for chronic diarrhea, service connection for diverticulitis, and service connection for a respiratory system disability to include restrictive lung disease and sleep apnea syndrome have been dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to inadequate medical opinions and potential secondary service connection theories.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral hand disabilities due to inadequate examination and potential toxic exposure during service.
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