The Board remanded the veteran's claims for service connection of cervical spine and right shoulder disabilities, secondary to service-connected right eye disabilities. The Board found that adequate medical opinions were not provided.
The deciding factor: The Board determined that the medical opinions provided were inadequate and constituted a pre-decisional duty-to-assist error.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical degenerative arthritis of the spine, right trapezius/upper back pain, glenohumeral and acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 7, 2025
- Citation
- A25001552
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,977 · Granted: 27% (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 A25001552.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient opinions regarding secondary service connection for cervical spine disabilities, and a new VA opinion is needed.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's thoracolumbar spine degenerative arthritis with intervertebral disc syndrome is currently rated at 20 percent, but the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.,The Veteran's cervical degenerative arthritis of the spine is currently rated at 10 percent, and the Board also finds no basis for granting a higher rating.
- Granted
The Veteran's cervical spine disability and cervical radiculopathy are granted as service connected. The cervical radiculopathy is also granted as secondary to the cervical spine disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's left shoulder disability is rated at a 30 percent rating effective May 17, 2023. Prior to that date, the disability was not rated higher than 20 percent.
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