The Board remands the claims for service connection for a right-hand disorder and left-hand disorder to obtain additional evidence, including new VA medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The Board must address the Veteran's report of painful and swollen joints during service and provide an opinion on whether the claimed arthritis is primary or secondary in relation to any Dupuytren's contracture found.
- Claimed conditions
- right-hand disorder, left-hand disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 8, 2025
- Citation
- 25012621
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,569 · Granted: 26% (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 25012621.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the Veteran's appeals for service connection of bilateral hand disorders, syncope, and knee disorders. The right-hand disorder appeal was withdrawn by the Veteran prior to the decision. Service connection for a disability manifested by syncope is denied as there is no current disability. The issues of service connection for GERD and knee disorders are remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeals for service connection for a lumbar spine disorder, sleep apnea, and chronic sinusitis prior to August 10, 2022, as these claims were granted in full by a September 2024 rating decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's tinnitus is granted service connection. The Board finds it was a pre-decisional duty to assist error not to clearly identify the Veteran's periods of ACDUTRA and INACDUTRA, and remands for further action on dizziness (vertigo), gastrointestinal disorder, sleep apnea, back disorder, right shoulder disorder, right-hand disorder, left-hand disorder, headaches, and neck disorder.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a left-hand disorder, right-hand disorder (including right little finger disorder), and pseudofolliculitis barbae as there is no evidence of these conditions during the pendency of the appeal.
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