The Board has determined that a VA Persian Gulf War examination is needed to determine the etiology of any disability manifested by dysphagia, regurgitation, and acid reflux (collectively identified as achalasia).
The deciding factor: The veteran's complaints of dysphagia, regurgitation, and acid reflux are not clearly diagnosed and may be related to an undiagnosed illness or supervening condition.
- Claimed conditions
- achalasia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 2, 2006
- Citation
- 0602951
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,421 · Granted: 29% (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 0602951.
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 has determined that the Veteran's achalasia did not begin during service or is otherwise related to an in-service injury or disease, and therefore denied his claim for service connection.
- Denied
The Veteran's GERD with gastritis and achalasia is rated at 10 percent, but the Board finds that his symptoms do not warrant a higher rating due to lack of considerable impairment of health.
- Denied
The Board denied an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for GERD and a higher rating for achalasia type 3 to include spasm of esophagus (cardiospasm).
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for GERD, hiatal hernia, achalasia, and hiccough, finding that these conditions are at least as likely as not due to environmental exposures in Southwest Asia. The decision also found that the Veteran's medications used to treat his service-connected foot and back condition exacerbated his stomach condition.
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