The Board remands the claims for service connection for chronic right elbow, hip, and wrist disabilities to correct a duty to assist error.
The deciding factor: The July 2023 VA medical opinions are inadequate as they relied solely on negative evidence without considering contemporaneous medical records or the Veteran's reported symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic right elbow disability, chronic right hip disability, chronic right wrist disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 27, 2025
- Citation
- A25018251
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,549 · 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 A25018251.
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 Board granted service connection for a chronic right foot disability, a chronic lumbar spine disability, and a chronic right hip disability.
- Partly granted
The Board denied increased ratings for various service-connected conditions, except for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) which was granted a 30 percent rating.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for chronic left and right wrist disabilities, but remanded the claims for other finger, thumb, hip, and back conditions due to a need for further evidence.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a chronic right wrist disability and an initial 30 percent rating for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), while denying service connection for otitis media and other claims.
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