The Board has determined that the appellant is not entitled to special monthly pension based on need for aid and attendance or due to being housebound, as her disabilities do not meet the criteria set forth in VA regulations.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence does not establish a factual need for regular aid and attendance or substantial confinement to the home by reason of disability.
- Claimed conditions
- blindness in right eye, cataract in left eye, pseudophakia (failed corneal transplant) in right eye, retina scar in right eye
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 4, 2003
- Citation
- 0303663
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,464 · Granted: 14% (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 0303663.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's blindness in the right eye was caused by a known risk of cataract surgery, but the VA did not obtain informed consent for the procedure that resulted in the blindness. The Board found that the VA referral to Cascade Surgery Center and subsequent care were not negligent, and that the Veteran's disability was not reasonably foreseeable.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for blindness in his right eye due to an injury, finding that there was no evidence of aggravation during service and that the pre-existing condition had reached its end-stage.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to new evidence added after previous decisions, and a medical opinion is needed regarding whether pre-existing right eye choroiditis was aggravated by service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for special monthly pension based on the need for aid attendance or being housebound due to service-connected disabilities is remanded for further development, including a new VA medical examination and obtaining any outstanding treatment records.
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