The Board remanded entitlement to service connection for cervical spine degenerative arthritis and bilateral upper extremity conditions for further development. The Board found new and relevant evidence warranted readjudication of the cervical spine claim and identified duty to assist errors in obtaining SSA records and obtaining an adequate VA medical opinion.
The deciding factor: The August 2021 VA examiner's opinion was inadequate because it improperly discounted the Veteran's competent reports of symptoms and relied primarily on absence of contemporaneous medical records to render a negative nexus opinion, and the AOJ failed to obtain Social Security Administration disability records that were potentially relevant to the claims.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical spine degenerative arthritis, clinical upper extremities peripheral radiculopathy, clinical upper extremities peripheral neuropathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 28, 2025
- Citation
- A25018528
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.
- Denied
The appeal to readjudicate the claim of service connection for cervical spine degenerative arthritis was denied due to a lack of new and relevant evidence.
- Granted
The Board granted ratings of 30 percent or higher for the Veteran's cervical spine degenerative arthritis, lumbar spine osteoarthritis with intervertebral disc syndrome, right shoulder strain, left elbow olecranon bursitis, right elbow olecranon bursitis, and headaches. Service connection was also granted for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) under the PACT Act.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for cervical spine degenerative arthritis.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for cervical spine degenerative arthritis, finding that there was no evidence of a current disability in service or within one year of separation from service.
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