The Board is remanding the claims for service connection for vertigo, major depression/anxiety condition, and degenerative arthritis of both hands to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
The deciding factor: The RO failed to properly notify the Veteran of its difficulty in obtaining service treatment records prior to adjudicating his claim, and did not obtain a medical opinion regarding the relationship between the Veteran's vertigo and tinnitus or his psychiatric condition and his service-connected tinnitus. Additionally, there was no VA examination for the claimed degenerative arthritis of both hands.
- Claimed conditions
- Vertigo, Major Depression/Anxiety Condition, Right Hand Degenerative Arthritis, Left Hand Degenerative Arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 24, 2025
- Citation
- A25037842
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 Board granted service connection for lumbar spine disability, as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected left foot crush injury, and sciatic radiculopathy of both lower extremities, also secondary to the newly service-connected lumbar spine disability. The Board denied an initial rating in excess of 70 percent for depressive disorder with unspecified anxiety disorder and a compensable rating for allergic rhinitis.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, effective August 28, 2018, due to clear and unmistakable error in the October 2018 rating decision. Service connection was also granted for major depressive disorder (MDD) as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a higher evaluation for service-connected vertigo, finding that the evidence did not support an evaluation in excess of 10 percent.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 30 percent rating for vertigo and a 20 percent rating for bilateral hearing loss from August 30, 2023 to December 21, 2023, but denied a higher rating for bilateral hearing loss at any time during the appeal period.
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