The Board remands the issues of service connection for a recurrent right hand disability and a recurrent left foot disability to the Agency of Original Jurisdiction for further development, as the current record is inadequate to determine whether the Veteran has these disabilities.
The deciding factor: The December 2024 VA examinations were conducted by nurse practitioners rather than medical doctors, and did not address the required elements for service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- recurrent left foot disability, other than left lower extremity radiculopathy, recurrent right hand disability to include osteoarthritis, other than right upper extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 26, 2025
- Citation
- 25002817
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 918 · Granted: 32% (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 25002817.
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.
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- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD is granted as the evidence shows a current diagnosis of PTSD, an in-service stressor, and a medical link between the two.
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