The Board remands the claims for increased ratings and earlier effective dates for various joint conditions, cervical spine arthritis, lumbosacral spine arthritis, and radiculopathy of the upper extremities to obtain additional medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion provided was inadequate to evaluate the Veteran's claims as it did not address specific disability patterns or provide sufficient evidence regarding occupational functioning and daily activities with and without pain medication for the period prior to September 27, 2002.
- Claimed conditions
- left elbow arthritis (limitation of flexion), left elbow arthritis (impairment of supination and pronation), right elbow arthritis (limitation of flexion), right elbow arthritis (impairment of supination and pronation), left hip arthritis (limitation of flexion), left hip arthritis (limitation of extension), left hip arthritis (impairment of thigh), right hip arthritis (limitation of flexion) under Diagnostic Code 5010-5252, right hip arthritis (limitation of extension), right hip arthritis (impairment of thigh), left shoulder arthritis, right shoulder bursitis with arthritis, left wrist arthritis, right wrist arthritis, left knee arthritis, right knee arthritis, left ankle arthritis, right ankle arthritis, arthritis of the bilateral hands, cervical spine arthritis, lumbosacral spine arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 19, 2025
- Citation
- 25002380
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,680 · 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 25002380.
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.
- Granted
The claim for service connection of a low back disability was reopened due to the submission of new and material evidence. The claim is denied as there is no evidence that the current condition is related to service.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew her appeal regarding the service connection for left and right knee arthritis, thus the appeal is dismissed.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that new and relevant evidence sufficient to readjudicate the previously denied claim for service connection for a right knee disability has been received. The AOJ should now consider secondary service connection in addition to the original claims.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded all issues for further development, including verification of the Veteran's service dates and consideration of any newly identified periods of service.
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