The Board remands the claims for service connection of bilateral upper and lower extremity neuropathy as a pre-decisional duty to assist error occurred, requiring an addendum medical opinion.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's statement was unclear and did not provide adequate rationale for ruling out a nexus between Agent Orange exposure and peripheral neuropathy.
- Claimed conditions
- left upper extremity (LUE) neuropathy, right upper extremity (RUE) neuropathy, left lower extremity (LLE) neuropathy, right lower extremity (RLE) neuropathy
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 6, 2025
- Citation
- A25010939
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,044 · Granted: 21% (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 A25010939.
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.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's service connection claim for hypertension was granted. The claims for fibromyalgia, headaches, and chronic fatigue were dismissed due to the Veteran's withdrawal of these appeals. The LLE and RLE neuropathy claims are remanded.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for hypertension, diabetes mellitus type 2, and bilateral upper/lower extremity diabetic neuropathies have been granted due to presumed exposure to herbicides during his military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's back condition, LUE and RUE neuropathies are granted as secondary to his service-connected amputation of the left arm below insertion of deltoid.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has ordered a remand due to the need for clarifying medical opinions regarding the etiology of arthritis and neuropathy, as well as addressing Dr. C.'s opinion on risk factors.
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