The Board has remanded the case for further development due to receipt of additional evidence and a need to consider VCAA notice obligations. The issues are whether service connection can be granted for the cause of death as a result of asbestos, nicotine addiction, or tobacco use, and what the effective date should be.
The deciding factor: The Board is remanding the case because new evidence has been received that requires further development to determine its impact on the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- asbestos exposure, nicotine addiction, tobacco use
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 12, 2004
- Citation
- 0409481
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 541 · Granted: 32% (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 0409481.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for gallstones, left eye disability, right eye disability, sinusitis, asbestos exposure, GERD, back disability, neck disability, and right ear hearing loss. The claims for left ear hearing loss, hypertension, and obstructive sleep apnea were remanded.
- Partly granted
The VA denied service connection for asbestos exposure, rhinitis, and sinusitis. The claims for bilateral pes planus and muscle pain were remanded for further evaluation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for readjudication due to new evidence submitted by the Veteran.
- Dismissed
The appeal concerning the issues of COPD and nicotine addiction is dismissed. The Veteran's service connection for COPD was granted, but the appeal for nicotine addiction is denied as it is not a compensable disability.
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