The Board remands the appeal for further action to determine the severity of the Veteran's service-connected conditions in the absence of medication.
The deciding factor: The claims must be remanded as VA is required to consider functional impairment in the absence of medication, and there are no medical opinions addressing this aspect of the disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- left wrist carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), median nerve, right wrist CTS, median nerve, right wrist osteoarthritis with chronic wrist sprain, left wrist osteoarthritis, right hand osteoporosis, left hand osteoporosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 20, 2025
- Citation
- 25003847
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 25003847.
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 remanded the cases due to a duty to assist error, requiring new VA examinations for the appellant's left carpal tunnel syndrome and left wrist osteoarthritis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for left wrist osteoarthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome due to potential secondary service connection via aggravation of a pre-existing condition. The Veteran's service records indicate chronic pain in his left hand, including during military service.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's PTSD was granted a 70 percent rating prior to June 7, 2019, from the earlier effective date of June 1, 2016, and denied an increased rating in excess of 30 percent for PTSD from June 6, 2014, to June 1, 2016.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for additional development, including obtaining a supplemental opinion regarding the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome and osteoarthritis/neurological conditions, as well as functional impairment estimates absent medication effects.
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