The Board remands the claims for service connection for a left shoulder disability and scar due to an inadequate VA examination opinion.
The deciding factor: The August 2024 VA examiner's opinion was based on insufficient evidence, specifically the lack of knee instability findings, which must be corrected through a new examination.
- Claimed conditions
- left shoulder rotator cuff and bicipital tendonitis with subacromial/subdeltoid bursitis and acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis, left shoulder scar
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 4, 2025
- Citation
- A25104714
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 828 · Granted: 42% (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 A25104714.
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 Veteran's prescribed topical skin medication, triamcinolone cream, caused irreparable damage to his clothing and the Board granted a clothing allowance for 2020 based on this.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for an initial, compensable disability rating for left knee and shoulder scars due to a need for further development of evidence.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities are of such nature and severity as to preclude his participation in any regular substantially gainful employment consistent with his education and occupational experience, warranting a total disability rating based on individual unemployability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issues of entitlement to service connection for a left knee disability, left shoulder disability, and left shoulder scar due to duty to assist errors.
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