The veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including obtaining medical records and a VA examination to assess his employability due to service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: The case requires further development as the RO needs to obtain relevant medical records and conduct an examination to determine if the veteran's service-connected disabilities alone prevent him from engaging in substantially gainful employment.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of an injury to the cervical spine, residuals of a cerebrovascular accident
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 20, 2004
- Citation
- 0401990
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 332 · 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 0401990.
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
Service connection is granted for coronary artery disease, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, hypertension, and rheumatoid arthritis as due to in-service exposure to herbicide agents.,Service connection is denied for hypercholesterolemia. Service connection is granted for bronchiectasis, restrictive lung disease (sarcoidosis), residuals of a cerebrovascular accident, sleep apnea, and COPD as due to in-service exposure to herbicide agents or as secondary to coronary artery disease.,Service connection is remanded for rheumatoid arthritis, bronchiectasis, restrictive lung disease (sarcoidosis), residuals of a cerebrovascular accident, sleep apnea, and COPD.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded several issues related to the Veteran's service connection claims, including for her bilateral foot disability, hand disability, knee disability, cerebrovascular accident residuals, and costochondritis. The RO is instructed to obtain any relevant medical records and provide a new VA examination for her hypertension.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded several issues related to the Veteran's claims, including service connection for various conditions and exposure to herbicide agents. The main focus is on obtaining additional information regarding the Veteran's respiratory condition and confirming his exposure to herbicide agents at Fort McClellan.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for hypoxemia, residuals of a cerebrovascular accident, and a cardiac condition, including myocardial infarction, coronary bypass graft, atrial fibrillation, endocarditis, and mitral valve repair. The Board found that there was no evidence linking these conditions to active duty service.
Free starter guide for your own claim
Reading this because you were denied or under-rated? Get the plain-English next steps — your appeal options, the deadline that protects you, and how appeals like yours turn out. One email, no spam.
We will only use this to send the guide. No spam, unsubscribe any time. We never sell your information.
We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.
This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.