The Board remands the claims for service connection for bilateral hand and elbow arthritis due to an inadequate VA examination.
The deciding factor: Remand is required because the previous VA medical opinion was found to be inadequate as it merely relied on the absence of contemporaneous medical evidence, and there are indications that the Veteran sought treatment during service.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hand arthritis, bilateral elbow arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 29, 2025
- Citation
- A25110479
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 948 · Granted: 52% (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 A25110479.
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.
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- Granted
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- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple conditions, including an acquired psychiatric disorder, sleep apnea, hypertension, and various musculoskeletal and skin disabilities.
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