The Board has remanded the case for further development, including obtaining a medical opinion regarding nicotine dependence and its relation to the veteran's death. The appeal will be held in abeyance until these issues are resolved.
The deciding factor: The Board found that adequate notice was not provided to the appellant regarding her responsibilities in developing evidence for her claims, particularly concerning nicotine dependence during service.
- Claimed conditions
- Nicotine dependence, Pulmonary infarction
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 12, 2004
- Citation
- 0401014
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,377 · Granted: 17% (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 0401014.
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 denied service connection for PTSD and nicotine dependence, but granted ratings for left knee limitations in flexion, extension, and patellar instability.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection on multiple conditions were denied in the April 2020 rating decision. The Board is denying these claims based on finality of the decision and lack of new evidence or arguments.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claim for service connection for acquired psychiatric disability due to additional development being required. The VA examiner is asked to provide opinions on whether any of the diagnosed disabilities were caused or aggravated by the Veteran's service, including his service-connected low back disability and opioid use disorder.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected psychiatric disability, including PTSD and dysthymia, is currently rated at 50 percent. The evidence does not support a higher rating as the symptoms do not meet the criteria for a 70 or 100 percent rating.
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