The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection of right and left shoulder disabilities due to a lack of an adequate opinion in the original decision. The Veteran's current diagnoses are right and left shoulder impingement, which must be determined if they are related to his service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner’s opinion was inadequate as it did not consider the Veteran's lay contentions about his military training and exercises leading to his shoulder disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- right shoulder impingement, left shoulder impingement
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 4, 2024
- Citation
- A24063445
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,113 · Granted: 47% (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 A24063445.
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 determined that the VA examinations provided for the Veteran's cervical and lumbosacral strains, left elbow strain, right elbow strain, and left shoulder impingement are inadequate. The Board also notes that there is no evidence of service connection for hypertension in this decision.
- Granted
The Veteran's left shoulder degenerative arthritis and right shoulder impingement are rated at 40 percent and 20 percent, respectively. The decision grants these ratings.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea was denied as there is no current diagnosis of the condition.,PTSD resulted in reduced reliability and productivity, but did not meet criteria for a higher rating.,Tension headaches did not meet criteria for a higher rating based on characteristic prostrating attacks.,Degenerative arthritis of cervical spine did not meet criteria for a higher rating due to limitation of motion.,Right shoulder impingement did not meet criteria for a higher rating due to limitation of motion.,Left shoulder impingement syndrome, rotator cuff tendonitis, did not meet criteria for a higher rating due to limitation of motion.,IBS manifested as moderate, frequent episodes of abdominal distress and did not meet criteria for a higher rating.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal regarding right shoulder impingement due to the appellant's request for withdrawal of the appeal.
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